A groundbreaking study published this week in the journal Aging Cells shows that maintaining optimal immune resilience may extend your lifespan by more than 15 years. Researchers analyzing data from about 17,500 people found that specific immune characteristics centered on a key protein called TCF7 provide obvious protection for aging-related diseases and early deaths.
An international team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center has identified what they call “immune resilience” – the body’s ability to maintain strong immune function while controlling inflammation, which is at the heart of healthy aging and longevity.
“Our study shows that maintaining optimal immune resilience with elevated transcription factor 7 (TCF7) levels establishes clinically viable saline biologic properties,” the researchers explained in their publication. This protective trait greatly reduces the emergence of age-related immune dysfunction, leading to a reduced risk of infection, cardiovascular disease and mortality.
The findings show that 40-year-olds with poor immune resilience face similar mortality rates, with a risk of nearly 10 times that of their best resilience peers – equivalent to the risk faced by elastic individuals over 15.5 years of age.
Women always show better immune resilience than men, which may help explain their longer lifespan. During middle age (40-70 years old), the protection was most obvious, when optimal immune elasticity reduced the risk of death by 69%.
“We propose a new paradigm for aging research that distinguishes treatment of age-related diseases and modifying the aging process itself through an immune resilience-related mechanism,” the researchers said.
The study also found that immunoresilience conditions can predict outcomes for a wide range of health conditions, ranging from the severity of COVID-19 to the risk of cardiovascular disease and even Alzheimer’s. People with optimal immune resilience show obvious protection against severe Covid-19 and show stronger vaccine response.
This study shows that strengthening immune resilience can greatly expand health status, towards critical intervention windows in mid-adulthood. Scientists believe that targeting TCF7 and related pathways can provide new treatments to promote healthy lifespan.
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