Scientists have identified immune resilience as an important weapon for the prevention of numerous diseases: here’s how it works.
An interesting study, carried out by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, together with a team of specialists from five countries, including Italians, measured what is called immune resilience.
The study, later also published in Nature Communications, makes us better understand the role of the immune system, which changes throughout life.
In the organism we have a very efficient system of defense, which helps us to defeat diseases; this system is obviously not “immobile” but changes, transforms and re-forms itself. The study that “measured” it also confirmed the why some people manage to live longer and healthier lives.
Being able to deepen the research on the resilience of our immune system can also be useful for do not intervene only when the disease is in progress.
Also you can better understand how a person reacts to a treatment medication and whether you have a higher or lower future chance of getting sick again.
What is immune resilience and who are the subjects in which it works best
In some peoples it has been observed for generations that women live longer than men. This is obviously a generalization, but it does not mean that there are not truths in certain beliefs.
In the study just published on immune resilience indeed it emerges that women have more optimal function of certain mechanisms. By the way also regardless of age.
This means that even in old age their body is able to re-establish a correct functioning of the defenses, and therefore live longer.
The researchers arrived at the aforementioned and other conclusions by sifting through a large amount of data: studies done in both animals and humans (with 50,000 people enrolled) and above all on the functioning of Cd8+ and Cd4+ T cellsand of genetic predispositions mechanisms that regulate the immune system.
The results were very clear: subjects who had good immune resilience turned out to be more “protected” against some diseases, such as the flu, Covid, HIV, serious infections and even some types of recurrence of cancer.
As mentioned above, it seems that in women the immune resilience is more effective than males.
For the uninitiated some concepts may seem complicated, but this study shows how Research today have a new approach to the disease. Not only, therefore, the desire to find a way to cure diseases or prevent them, but also to study the behavior of the organism in order to devise new prevention and treatment strategies of some evils afflicting our society.