Delving into a gene called TCF7

Abstract: A team of medical professionals led by Dr. Sunil K. Ahuja, professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UT Health San Antonio), were able to conclude how immune resilience is “not fixed, but measurable and adaptable.” What they also discovered was “the importance of immune resilience involving T-cell factor 7 (TCF7), a gene essential for maintaining immune cell regeneration potential, in fostering healthy aging and longevity.”

If you have a poor immune resilience in midlife, 40 could be the new 55 and you might have a 69 per cent great chance of death by the age of 70, but that could all change by focusing on factors that sustain health, results of a new research released in late April reveal.

The research, conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and the San Antonio Veterans Affairs Hospital involved analyzing “data from 17,500 individuals across various life stages.”

What scientists discovered, a release stated, is “the importance of immune resilience involving T-cell factor 7 (TCF7), a gene essential for maintaining immune cell regeneration potential, in fostering healthy aging and longevity.

“That places importance on salutogenesis, or the active process of promoting health and well-being, from birth to approximately age 70, modifiable with lifestyle changes, medications or future immunotherapies that could delay age-related diseases and extend health span. In the future, immune resilience might even be routinely assessed, much like cholesterol is today.”

Results, which were first published April 23 in the journal Aging Cell, reveal how a team of medical professionals led by Dr. Sunil K. Ahuja, professor of medicine at UT Health San Antonia, were able to conclude how immune resilience is “not fixed, but measurable and adaptable.”

According to the release, the study found that “participants in a large U.S. population with strong immune resilience at age 40 had a 15.5-year survival advantage over those with low resilience. Midlife (ages 40-70) is a pivotal window for longevity, with immune resilience reducing mortality by 69% during this period. By age 70, however, longevity trajectories converged, eliminating this advantage.”

Individuals with TCF7-linked immune resilience, said Ahuja, “appear better equipped to resist inflammatory stressors and maintain a low-inflammatory immune profile promoting survival and better health.”

In addition, his team found that “higher TCF7 levels and related markers correlated with better health outcomes, improved resistance to disease and durable vaccine responses.”

Throughout life, said co-first author Grace Lee, an associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin, “inflammatory insults like infections may gradually reduce immune resilience. Some individuals can preserve (it) longer than others.”

There is, she adds, a “biologically modifiable window of opportunity for interventions like diet, exercise or drugs. Beyond this window, improving health span becomes more challenging.”

When it comes to the issue of proactive health management, in the release, Justin Meunier, a bioinformatician at the Center for Personalized Management, raises what he describes as the possibility of someday having routine immune resilience assessments. If that was to occur, said Lee, “personalized plans based on immune resilience status could help prevent disease proactively.”

A second release from UT Health San Antonio states that Ahuja’s team’ work shifts the focus from inevitable decline to optimizable resilience. Future strategies to recalibrate immune resilience could transition healthcare from disease treatment to sustaining health.

“Since the dawn of civilization, humans have encountered inflammatory challenges, such as infections. Appropriately regulated inflammation is essential for protection against threats and supporting survival.

“However, inflammation is also linked to many diseases and mortality. This may have contributed to the emergence of health-promoting salutogenic forces, including immune resilience, which could help mitigate the harmful effects of inflammation.”