One immune switch may help drive aging across the body
Stanford researchers have identified a specific immune system receptor that, when blocked, appears to slow the aging process in mice. By targeting tissue-resident macrophages, the study suggests a potential pathway for reducing chronic inflammation and age-related health decline in humans.
Why it matters
This discovery offers a potential pharmacological target to extend human healthspan and mitigate age-related diseases like cognitive decline and frailty.
Aging happens at different speeds from one person to another, but it eventually affects everyone. New research from Stanford Medicine, conducted in mice and human cells, points to a particular failure in the immune system that may help explain why.
The researchers found that tissue-resident macrophages, a type of immune cell that lives permanently within organs, become less able with age to dispose of another class of immune cells. That decline appears to contribute to aging throughout the body.
When the scientists blocked a single receptor on these macrophages, multiple organs in mice retained more youthful characteristics. The effects were seen in the brain, heart, skeletal and heart muscle, liver, spleen, bone marrow, kidney, and colon. The receptor normally responds to a hormone involved in inflammation and pain in both mice and humans.
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