2017年2月24日， 國際學術權威刊物自然出版集團旗下子刊《Scientific Reports》雜誌線上發表了中國科學院昆明動物研究所動物模型與人類疾病機理院重點實驗室鄭永唐學科組的一篇研究論文， 研究發現免疫衰老是老年愛滋病進展的關鍵因素， 昆明動物所博士後鄭宏毅為文章第一作者， 研究員鄭永唐為通訊作者。
近幾年來老年愛滋病患者正在逐年增加， 老年人已成為HIV感染高危人群， 老年愛滋病逐漸得到廣泛關注。 目前中老年HIV感染者的治療效果不理想， 其死亡風險和AIDS進展風險仍要高於年輕感染者， 免疫重建效果也遠不如年輕患者。
鄭永唐學科組使用SIVmac239病毒感染老年中國獼猴的方法首次建立了老年AIDS動物模型， 發現免疫衰老在老年愛滋病的發展過程中起到關鍵作用。 感染後的老年猴血漿病毒載量快速上升， CD4/CD8比值嚴重倒置， CD4+T細胞迅速減少， 表明其疾病進展更快和發展為AIDS的風險更高。 免疫衰老一些特徵指標如低水準的CD4+初始T細胞比例和感染後高水準的穩態增殖水準預示了進一步的疾病進展。 老年猴的宿主天然免疫反應更快更強，
免疫衰老是老年愛滋病獼猴模型疾病進展的關鍵因素
原文連結：
原文摘要：
The elderly population infected with HIV-1 is often characterized by the rapid AIDS progression and poor treatment outcome, possibly because of immunosenescence resulting from both HIV infection and aging. However, this hypothesis remains to be fully tested. Here, we studied 6 young and 12 old Chinese rhesus macaques (ChRM) over the course of three months after simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) SIVmac239 infection. Old ChRM showed a higher risk of accelerated AIDS development than did young macaques, owing to rapidly elevated plasma viral loads and decreased levels of CD4+ T cells. The low frequency of naïve CD4+ T cells before infection was strongly predictive of an increased disease progression, wheras the severe depletion of CD4+ T cells and the rapid proliferation of naïve lymphocytes accelerated the exhaustion of naïve lymphocytes in old ChRM. Moreover, in old ChRM, a robust innate host response with defective regulation was associated with a compensation for naïve T cell depletion and a high level of immune activation. Therefore, we suggest that immunosenescence plays an important role in the accelerated AIDS progression in elderly individuals and that SIV-infected old ChRM may be a favorable model for studying AIDS pathogenesis and researching therapies for elderly AIDS patients.