Is having a "young" immune system beneficial for older individuals?

As we age, our immune system becomes less capable of protecting our bodies from infections and diseases. However, researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that some older individuals have a young immune system, also called "immune youth." They made this discovery when older patients would visit the Mayo Clinic to receive treatment for an autoimmune disease called giant cell arteritis.

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In more than 100 of those patients, Dr. Cornelia Weyand and her team found stem-like T-cells in the disease tissue of these patients. These specialized immune cells behave like young stem cells, with a focus on regeneration and aiding healing and growth. Unfortunately, rather than helping heal the older patients, they were spreading the autoimmune disease.

While some people may think that having a "young" immune system would be beneficial for older individuals, that's not always the case. In fact, there are benefits to having an immune system that ages together with the body. For example, the immune system aging could prevent autoimmune diseases, such as giant cell arteritis. "We observed that these patients have very young immune systems despite being in their 60s and 70s. But the price they pay for that is autoimmunity," says Dr. Weyand.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic are now developing new diagnostic tools to find patients and other healthy individuals who carry increased numbers of immune stem cells. By doing this, they hope to be able to detect individuals who may be predisposed to autoimmune diseases later in life.

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