Aging itself is not a disease, but it is associated with many diseases. During the aging

process, the human body suffers a decline in several functions. The representative function

among them is the immune function. For this reason, humans easily succumb to the disease

during the aging process, and have difficulty in preventing the disease through vaccines, and

when the disease occurs, the aged human body cannot overcome it. In other words, aging

makes the conditions for humans so vulnerable to disease. The reason stems from changes

in the human immune system. Knowing how the immune system changes during the course

of aging is thus the same as understanding how humans are becoming more vulnerable to

conditions that fight disease during the course of aging.​ 

Aging and immunity:

Despite the fact that it has not emerged much in the process of classifying aging phenomena

and related hallmarks, change in immune functions can be cited as an important

phenomenon in actual reality. The changes in the development of B cells and T cells during

the aging process, the effects of aging on innate immunity and the effects of aging on the

differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells are remarkable during the actual human aging

stage. It is closely related to the phenomena that appear, such as increased risk of infection,

reduced vaccine efficacy, and increased chronic inflammatory disease, but the fact is that

the understanding of immunosenescence and related mechanisms has not yet been

correctly performed, especially at the organismal level. Therefore, we want to deal with the

immunological changes in the aging process at the molecular level as well as at the

organismal level.

Immune organoids in aging research:

Mouse models are widely used for aging studies. However, animal models have the

disadvantage that the time required to conduct experiments and they differ significantly from

the human system. In addition, many experiments using cell lines have been conducted for

aging studies. It is still difficult for these studies to elucidate how cells communicate and how

they combine to function at the tissue level. The organoids of secondary lymphoid tissues

such as thymus, spleen and Peyer’s patch may provide great help to overcome these

current limitations.

Microbiome and immunosenescence:

The bacterial flora, has important relevance to the two keywords mentioned earlier. Gut

microbiota is known to greatly contribute to changes in human innate immunity and

inflammatory mechanisms. Therefore, it is challenging to determine the composition of gut

microbiota that affects immunosenescence, and to elucidate the mechanism that influences

it. And it has a synergistic effect in addition to the quests related to the two keywords

mentioned above.​ 

Yoon J*, Korkmaz N, Park HJ, Han S, Hwang KH, Shin J, Cho SW, Chang-Hoon Nam**,

Chung S.**, Angiogenic Type I Collagen Extracellular Matrix Integrated with Recombinant

Bacteriophages Displaying Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors. Adv Healthc Mater. 2016,

5(2):205-12.

Kim YJ*, Jin YH, Salieb-Beugelaar GB, Chang-Hoon Nam**, Stieglitz T.**, Genetically

engineered bacteriophage delivers a tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonist coating on

neural electrodes. Biomed Mater. 2014, 9(1):015009. 

Korkmaz N*, Kim YJ, Chang-Hoon Nam**. Bacteriophages as templates for manufacturing

supramolecular structures. Macromol Biosci. 2013, 13(3):376-87.

Jeon D-Y*, Hwang KH, Park S-J, Kim Y-J, Joo M-G, Ahn S-E, Kim GT** and Chang-Hoon

Nam**. Controlled surface adsorption of fd filamentous phage by tuning of the pH and the

functionalization of the surface. J Appl Phys. 2011, 109:064701.

Kim YJ*, Kim N, Lee MK, Choi HJ, Baek HJ**, Chang-Hoon Nam**, Overexpression and

unique rearrangement of VH2 transcripts in immunoglobulin variable heavy chain genes in

ankylosing spondylitis patients. Exp Mol Med. 2010 May 31;42(5):319-26.

Appert A*, Chang-Hoon Nam*, Lobato MN, Priego E, Miguel RN, Blundell T, Drynan L,

Sewell H, Tanaka T, Rabbitts T.** Targeting LMO2 with a peptide aptamer establishes a

necessary function in overt T-cell neoplasia. Cancer Res. 2009, 69(11):4784-90.

Chang-Hoon Nam*, Lobato MN, Appert A, Drynan LF, Tanaka T, Rabbitts TH.**, An

antibody inhibitor of the LMO2-protein complex blocks its normal and tumorigenic functions.

Oncogene 2008, 27(36):4962-8.

Chang-Hoon Nam*, Rabbitts TH.**, The role of LMO2 in development and in T cell leukemia

after chromosomal translocation or retroviral insertion. Mol Ther. 2006, 13(1):15-25.

Chang-Hoon Nam*, Moutel S, Teillaud JL.**, Generation of murine scFv intrabodies from B-

cell hybridomas. Methods Mol Biol. 2002; 193: 301-27.​