Rejuvenating the Immune System and Protecting Old People From COVID

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists have found a way to rejuvenate the aging process of the body’s immune system. B cells (aka B lymphocytes) are the cells that produce antibodies against any pathogen that enters the body. They play a key role in protecting people from viruses and diseases.

B cells are produced in bone marrow and then travel through the blood to lymph nodes and the spleen, where they wait for pathogens to enter and then attack them.

Young cells have a very diverse ability to recognize anything [pathogenic] that comes into your body. B cells do not live long, but they are constantly being replenished by new ones sent from the bone marrow, creating what Melamed calls “homeostasis,” a state in which the total number of B cells in the bone marrow and outside remains constant.

However, B cells do not just disappear. They turn into “memory” B cells so that if the body is exposed to a previous pathogen, the individual will not get sick. That is because the immune response will be fast and robust, and it will eliminate the pathogen, often without the individual knowing he or she had been exposed to it.

Unlike B cells, memory cells are long-lived. When you are old memory cells crowd out new B cells.

They discovered specific hormonal signals produced by the old B cells, the memory cells, inhibit the bone marrow from producing new B cells. Specific drugs or treatments can be found to inhibit one of the hormones in the signaling pathway and get the bone marrow to produce new B cells (aka new B cells are naive B cells).

As part of treatment for some medical conditions, such as lupus, lymphoma and multiple sclerosis, patients undergo B cell depletion, meaning a significant amount of memory B cells is removed from their bodies.

Examining older patients who underwent this procedure, the group found that their immune systems rejuvenated, and their bodies could produce new (naive) B cells again.

These immune system insights have led to the following proposed pandemic treatments for the elderly. Vaccinate the elderly every three or four months to maintain high antibodies and switch up the vaccines used. In the first quarter use Pfizer, next time Moderna, next time Astrozeneca, etc… This will help overcome the 20X greater risk for the elderly to COVID.

Journal Blood -Peripheral B-cells repress B-cell regeneration in aging through a TNFα/IGFBP-1/IGF1 immune-endocrine axis. by Reem Dowery, David Benhamou, Eli Benchetrit, Ofer Harel, Alex Nevelsky, Simona Zisman-Rozen, Yolanda Braun-Moscovici, Alexandra Balbir-Gurman, Irit Avivi, Arik Shechter, Daniela Berdnik, Tony Wyss-Coray, Doron Melamed

Abstract
Loss of B lymphocyte regeneration in the bone marrow (BM) is an immunological hallmark of advanced age, which impairs thereplenishment of peripheral B-cell subsetsand results in impaired humoral responses,thereby contributing to immune system dysfunction associated with aging.A better understanding of the mechanism behindthis loss may suggest ways to restore immune competence and promote healthy aging. In the present work, we uncover animmune-endocrine regulatory circuit that mediates cross-talk between peripheral B-cells and progenitors in the BM, to balance B-lymphopoiesis in both human and mouse aging. We found that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), which is highly produced by peripheral B-cells in aging, stimulates the production of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1), which bindsand sequesters insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) in the circulation, thereby restraining its activity in promoting B-lymphopoiesis in the BM. Upon B-cell depletion in aged humans and mice, circulatory TNFα decreases, resulting in increased IGF1 and reactivation of B-lymphopoiesis. Perturbation of this circuit by administration of IGF1 to old mice or anti-TNFα antibodies to human patients restored B-lymphopoiesis in the BM. Hence, we suggest that in both human and mouse aging, peripheral B-cells utilize the TNFα/IGFBP-1/IGF1 axis to repressB-lymphopoiesis.

SOURCES – Journal Blood, Jerusalem Post
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

7 thoughts on “Rejuvenating the Immune System and Protecting Old People From COVID”

  1. I suppose whatever excuse it takes to get the medical regulatory agencies out of the way of aging research.

  2. "(aka new B cells are naive B cells)". Well then, what is a bee called on the first day as a worker? New bee.

Comments are closed.