Early infection may shorten (kidney) lifespan

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Early infection may shorten (kidney) lifespan

Okay, they are not really kidneys, but Malpighian tubules - structures in insects that perform a similar role to kidneys in humans.
The reason for early death was clogging of the tubules - with melanin, which is produced as a result of immune system activation in beetles (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019972).

These researchers think that there are similarities between underlying mechanisms of the insect and human innate immune systems [15] and have encouraged and confirmed the importance of, the use of insect model systems in immunology. In T. molitor it has been shown that an immune response leads to the damage of vital organs.

AN ACTIVE immune system early in life may stunt lifespan, at least in beetles. The findings support the idea that a strong immune system helps a species reach breeding age but brings an earlier death from fighting infections.

Jens Rolff, at the University of Sheffield in the UK, and colleagues activated the immune system of mealworm beetle larvae using either dead bacteria or a piece of nylon, introduced to irritate the gut lining. Maximum lifespan was 10 per cent shorter in the "infected" beetles at just 202 days, compared with 224 in the controls.

Some suggest that an active immune system early in human life can also lead to a shortened lifespan: "It supports our analysis of the 1918 flu epidemic, in which prenatal exposure caused a 25 per cent increase of heart disease 60 years later," says Caleb Finch of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0019972

[15]
Hoffman JA, Kafatos FC, Janeway CA, Ezekowitz R (1999) Phylogenetic perspectives in innate immunity. Science 284: 1313–1318.