Aging, Persistent Viral Infections, and Immunosenescence

In Brief Overcrowding the immune space with excess clones of viral-specific T cells causes the naïve T-cell repertoire to shrink, which increases infection susceptibility to novel pathogens. Physical exercise preferentially mobilizes senescent T cells from the peripheral tissues into the blood, which might facilitate their subsequent apoptosis and create "vacant space" for newly functional T cells to occupy and expand the naïve T-cell repertoire. This article describes how physical exercise might reverse the deleterious effects of immunosenescence by creating "vacant space" for naïve T cells.