Tests Show New Drug Can Boost Immune Systems in Seniors

Health Wellness

As many of our posts have pointed out, with aging comes a multitude of health issues. Aging causes many parts of our body to change and function differently, less efficiently or not at all. We lose muscle mass and muscle tone. Our bones tend to get thinner, less strong and more brittle. Our digestion often changes, with some foods we’ve eaten for years are no longer setting in our tummies. Our patterns of eliminating both liquid and solid waste also change, sometimes causing embarrassing situations and other times causing extreme discomfort. Our minds often aren’t as sharp as they once were. I used to have a photographic memory, but I’ve noticed the film doesn’t develop like it used to.

A friend of mine who was a car fanatic who was getting older, once told me that our bodies like a car. When it rolls off the assembly-line, it needs changes and tender loving care to get it to the point where it’s ready to go. It performs well for a number of years, but then the various parts begin to wear out. The frame begins to rust and the paint fades. Without constant care and maintenance, which can be expensive, eventually the car stops running and ends up in a scrap yard somewhere.

One of the many systems in our bodies that wear and diminish with age is our immune system. Through most of our adult years, many of us are able to fight off many types of illnesses due to a strong immune system, but as we get older, we tend to catch more of the different ‘bugs’ that go around and when we do get them, they last longer and are harder to overcome.

This is why so many health experts, including the CDC, highly recommends that older people get the annual flu shot, the pneumococcus pneumonia vaccine, the shingles vaccines and get tested for latent hepatitis, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and possibly more depending on one’s family history.

For the past decade, researchers have been testing a drug that has shown promising results in boosting the immune systems in older people and reducing infections by 40%. When tested on various animals, not only did the drug improve their immune systems, but it also seemed to extend their lifespans, possibly due to the improved immune system.

It involves a protein known as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Part of a report stares:

“The objective of this phase 2a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial was to determine whether low-dose mTOR inhibitor therapy enhanced immune function and decreased infection rates in 264 elderly subjects given the study drugs for 6 weeks. A low-dose combination of a catalytic (BEZ235) plus an allosteric (RAD001) mTOR inhibitor that selectively inhibits target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) downstream of mTOR was safe and was associated with a significant (P = 0.001) decrease in the rate of infections reported by elderly subjects for a year after study drug initiation. In addition, we observed an up-regulation of antiviral gene expression and an improvement in the response to influenza vaccination in this treatment group. Thus, selective TORC1 inhibition has the potential to improve immune function and reduce infections in the elderly.”

To put it in simpler terms, they have a drug that inhibits the function of mTOR and in doing so, it creates a series of molecular events in the cells that helps build the person’s immune system. Having fewer infections and diseases is a huge plus for us older folks and the less sick we are, the chances of us living longer improves.

Like so many other reports, this is still in the testing phase, but hopefully it can be put on the market soon and hopefully, it will be affordable.

aging Immune System Seniors

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