An immune system that hardly wilts despite age: this is what would have allowed the rare centenarians to reach their venerable age, according to a brand new study.
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Centenarians are said to have a highly functioning immune system thanks to a unique composition of their immune cells, several researchers, including some from Boston University School of Medicine, have said, according to The Independant.
Normally, the immune system declines with age, making the system more susceptible to disease and making remission more difficult.
But in the centenarians studied, the immune profiles observed confirmed a history of exposure to various infections from which the patients would have recovered, said one of the study’s lead authors, Paola Sebastiani.
“This supports the hypothesis that centenarians are enriched in protective factors that increase their ability to recover from infections,” she said.
Thus, researchers hope to understand the mechanisms that make it possible to develop a more resilient immune system in order to draw inspiration from them.
“Centenarians and their exceptional longevity provide a ‘blueprint’ on how to live a more productive and healthier life,” added George J. Murphy, another lead author.
The study, which is one of the largest carried out in North America on this rare population, was carried out on seven centenarians.