Category: Immunity

Key Points:  While our immune system guards us from bacterial infection, it progressively falters with age. By the time we grow old, our immune system becomes more likely to evoke a life-threatening inflammatory response — sepsis — when threatened by bacterial invaders. However, researchers from Harvard and the Huntington Medical Research Institute may have found… Continue reading Harvard Scientists Find NAD⁺ Protects Against Life-Threatening Inflammation

Key Points:  The immune system gradually declines with age leading to chronic inflammation, a major driver of age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Now researchers from the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Japan have found that immune system aging may be accelerated by radiation from the atomic bomb Dr. Oppenheimer — the father… Continue reading Japanese Study Links Radiation with Accelerated Immune Aging: Nuclear Power’s Lasting Impact

Key Points: Can cells avoid aging, or is aging an unavoidable, programmed fate? A new study published in Nature shows that descendents from immune cells can be continuously harvested and transferred into new mice for over 10 years, which is about four times the lifespan of a mouse. Despite demonstrating the potential to expand the… Continue reading Immune Cells Can Avoid Aging to Produce Progeny 30,000x the Earth’s Volume

Key Points: C3G, a molecule that gives some fruits their deep purple hue, is a natural inhibitor of CD38 — an enzyme on the surface of our immune cells. While CD38 is a critical component of our immune system, it becomes overactive with aging. And since CD38 depletes NAD+, its overactivity may be the primary… Continue reading Researchers find Plant Pigment that Reduces Age-Related Inflammation and Boosts NAD⁺ 

Key Points: Metformin prevents the age-related progression of ovarian fibrosis in old mice.   Fibrosis already present in older mice is not reversed by metformin treatment.  The effects of metformin appear to be due to immune system rejuvenation.  As we age, it becomes more difficult for our organs to regenerate new cells. Instead, our cells are… Continue reading Anti-Diabetes Drug Metformin Protects Against Reproductive Aging in Latest Study

Key Points:  The diabetes drug metformin preserves thymus structure and boosts the function of thymus mitochondria (cell powerhouses).  Treated mice exhibit fewer senescent cells — growth-arrested cells associated with promoting aging — than untreated aging mice.  Treatment with metformin increases the activity of multiple essential proteins responsible for proper functioning of the thymus.  As we… Continue reading New Study Shows Metformin Reverses Age-Related Thymus Degeneration by Boosting Mitochondrial Function

Key Points: A molecule secreted by gut bacteria in aged mice called IAA (isoamylamine) hinders cognition in young mice. Inhibiting IAA prevents cognitive deficits in aged mice. IAA promotes inflammation and cell death by stimulating microglia cells — the brains resident immune cells. Molecules secreted by the bacteria living in our gut play a crucial… Continue reading Researchers Find Blocking Gut Metabolite Prevents Cognitive Decline

Key Points:  Our nervous system mediates all of our actions, including how we move, think, and feel. It also mediates unconscious (autonomic) processes like our heart rate, digestion, and immune system. The vagus nerve is the primary nerve associated with the unconscious “rest and digest” processes of the nervous system (parasympathetic nervous system). Recent discoveries… Continue reading Study from Sweden Suggests Nerve Stimulation Device Could Slow Aging

Key Points: Gut microbiota (bacteria) from young mice reduces neuroinflammation in the retinas and brains of aged mice but does not improve cognition.  Young gut microbiota improves intestinal inflammation and leaky gut in aged mice. Fecal matter transplants from young mice improve bacterial composition, and lipid and vitamin synthesis in aged mice. The bacteria living… Continue reading Study Shows Gut Bacteria from Young Mice Reverses Age-Related Inflammation