Aging-related changes in white blood cells – part of the body’s natural immune response to infection – are helping researchers understand processes that leave some adults more susceptible to infection. Examples includes sepsis, pneumonia, certain types of cancer, and COVID-19. The results of this research, which is based on an international review of 768,762 adults and supported by several NIH institutes, including the NHLBI, appears in Nature Medicine.
As background, researchers know age, specifically cellular aging, is associated with changes in how the body responds to infection, but they needed clarification about molecular processes involved. After reviewing DNA samples and medical information from participants who shared this information through biobanks, or open-access research libraries, they found changes in white blood cells helped explain certain disease associations. They also found 63 locations in white blood cells related to these changes that may help guide precision medicine research.
When age-related changes in white blood cells occur, which could be from a mutation, deletion, or alteration in how the cell makes copies, this can change the body’s immune response to infection. Sustained inflammation, for example, can extend infection, including for COVID-19. Medical teams who have this information could potentially give priority treatment to patients with altered white blood cells – and immune function. The authors do caution the study represents samples from a single point in time and the body is constantly changing.