Living longer and easily overcoming diseases caused by external pathogens is not only related to genetic factors, lifestyle habits or diet, but also to what a study published by the prestigious journal Nature defines as “immune resilience”.
The research tested levels of immune resistance in nearly 50,000 people of different ages, and individuals with optimal levels of immune resilience were more likely to live longer, resist flu infections and even HIV, as well as AIDS once developed this disease.
Similarly, they were more susceptible to surviving covid-19 infection and sepsis and had a better chance of resisting the reappearance of skin cancer after a kidney transplant, according to the Efe agency.
The international team, coordinated by the University of Texas at San Antonio (United States), believes that these findings could improve our understanding of why some people remain healthier throughout life.
The study suggests that optimal immune resilience can be detected at all ages and may be more common in women.
Although age plays an important role in the body’s response to infectious disease and other inflammatory stressors, some people maintain or restore optimal immune resistance regardless of age, according to Sunil K. Ahuja, first author of the study.
Until now, it is not well understood why some people live longer and are less susceptible to infections and inflammatory diseases, which cause changes in the immune system, and why the magnitude and quality of the response to disease may vary. from one individual to another.
One hypothesis is that optimal responses to infectious and inflammatory diseases are related to life expectancy, but more research was needed.
Collated data from more than 48,500 individuals and multiple animal models, the team found that some individuals maintain immune resilience when exposed to various infectious and inflammatory conditions and during the aging process.
The authors argue that immune resilience could be used in the future to monitor and potentially inform the prognosis and management of health outcomes, including life expectancy and response to infections.
However, further research is needed to determine the validity and utility of immunological resilience measurement for the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of inflammatory and infectious diseases.
Immune resilience is the ability to maintain good immune function, called immunocompetence, and minimize inflammation while experiencing inflammatory stressors, explained Weijing He, of the US Foundation for the Advancement of Veterans Health Research and also research signatory.
The researchers established immune resistance in two ways. One was to measure the balance between CD8 and CD4 T cells (two types of white blood cells) and the second was to measure the expression levels of genes related to immunocompetence and a higher probability of survival versus those related to inflammation and increased risk. of death.
The study introduces the novel concept of immune resilience, which examines the balance between immunocompetence and inflammation as a critical factor contributing to health outcomes, regardless of age.
