What is immune age and how does it differ from biological age
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History the scientific study of immunity goes back hundreds of years, but until recently there was no such measure that could be used to measure its amount.
However, in 2019, scientists from the Israel Institute of Technology in the city of Haifa and Stanford University proposed a method of such calculation called immune age.
As a person ages, immunity deteriorates: the body's ability to produce immune cells (for example, leukocytes) decreases. their number is decreasing. The number of particles contributing to the development of inflammation, on the contrary, is increasing. At the same time, it is inflammation that causes many diseases, including allergies, arthritis, pneumonia, and cancer.
The effects of aging on the immune system vary from person to person. Genetic features and living conditions have a great influence on this process: climate, ecology, nutrition.
For example, one of the recent studies by scientists from Great Britain found that the body's ability to respond to the immune system largely depends on the micro RNA molecule -142. This small section of the genetic code influences both innate and acquired susceptibility to disease and treatment.
Over time, these differences only increase. This is why people of the same age can feel completely different.
However, changes in the immune system take years, and experiments that take place over several weeks or months do not allow to reveal significant differences. Therefore, in order to learn more, an Israeli-American team of doctors resorted to a study that, unlike previous similar experiments, lasted nine years.
What is the immune age and how was it discovered
After studying the condition of 135 healthy people of various ages, scientists confirmed that significant changes in the production of body cells occur over the years. Specialists fixed them with the help of the latest high-precision equipment capable of detecting even minor fluctuations in the cellular composition of blood.
Based on this data, the scientists created a multidimensional trajectory of immune aging, which they say reflects the body's ability to resist disease and how it changes over the years. A total of 33 markers (cell subgroups) were found in the blood, which allow judging a person's health much more accurately than knowing his biological age and observing external signs.
Medics used machine learning algorithms to analyze the received information. Then the results were checked again on a sample of more than 2,000 people.
The method was called IMM-AGE – “immune age”.
How can the discovery of immune age be useful
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The most well-known and generally accepted factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases and the risk of premature death were formulated during the Framingham Cardiology Study, which began in 1948:
- High blood pressure.
- Low level of high-density lipoproteins.
- Hypertrophy (thickening of the walls) of the left ventricle of the heart, which is detected using an electrocardiogram.
- Smoking and alcohol consumption.
- Low physical activity.< /li>
- Diabetes.
- Obesity.
- Stress.
According to the authors of the IMM‑AGE method of determining the immune age, these criteria will be significantly expanded.
Knowledge of which changes in blood composition indicate a weakening of the immune system will allow identifying patients in the risk group and predicting mortality from almost all ailments, and not only from cardiac ones.
It can help in the fight against oncological, infectious and chronic diseases. And all this only with the help of a general blood test.
So far, it is not possible to pass such a test at will – the technique requires further refinement. However, it opens up brilliant prospects: we will be able to undergo examination and treatment on time. For example, if cancer risk markers are found in the patient's blood, the doctor will recommend that he be examined by an oncologist more frequently. may vary with age.
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