Immune resilience despite inflammatory stress promotes longevity and favorable health outcomes including resistance to infection 2023 Ahuja et al

Abstract

Some people remain healthier throughout life than others but the underlying reasons are poorly understood. Here we hypothesize this advantage is attributable in part to optimal immune resilience (IR), defined as the capacity to preserve and/or rapidly restore immune functions that promote disease resistance (immunocompetence) and control inflammation in infectious diseases as well as other causes of inflammatory stress.

We gauge IR levels with two distinct peripheral blood metrics that quantify the balance between (i) CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell levels and (ii) gene expression signatures tracking longevity-associated immunocompetence and mortality-associated inflammation. Profiles of IR metrics in ~48,500 individuals collectively indicate that some persons resist degradation of IR both during aging and when challenged with varied inflammatory stressors. With this resistance, preservation of optimal IR tracked (i) a lower risk of HIV acquisition, AIDS development, symptomatic influenza infection, and recurrent skin cancer; (ii) survival during COVID-19 and sepsis; and (iii) longevity. IR degradation is potentially reversible by decreasing inflammatory stress.

Overall, we show that optimal IR is a trait observed across the age spectrum, more common in females, and aligned with a specific immunocompetence-inflammation balance linked to favorable immunity-dependent health outcomes. IR metrics and mechanisms have utility both as biomarkers for measuring immune health and for improving health outcomes.

Open access, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38238-6

 

Why Some People Get Sick More Often

"Everyone gets sick. Despite all the vegetables we eat or vitamins we gulp down, sooner or later pathogens such as viruses and harmful bacteria infiltrate our bodies, and we need to take a time-out. We sit back and let our immune system do its job.

But when it comes to getting sick, not all immune systems are equal. Some people seem to get sick much more often than others. One could easily conclude that these individuals—such as elementary school teachers or hospital workers—are merely exposed to sick people more often. But susceptibility to illness isn’t as simple as the odds of being exposed to someone with a cold. Each person gets sick differently.

Moreover people recover differently. Not everyone returns to their baseline level of health after the flu or COVID. The biology behind why and how some people get sick more often than others is still largely unknown. But a paper published on June 13 in Nature Communications shines a light on the components of immune resilience—the ability to restore immune functions that stave off diseases and control inflammation caused by infectious diseases, as well as other sources of inflammation."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-some-people-get-sick-more-often/