Elderly patients could be offered an immune-boosting drug to make vaccines more effective, British researchers say.
So far the treatment has been tested on mice.
Researchers say it restores the immune system’s ability to memorise threats.
They say the drug spermidine will restore the cellular process that allows T-cells in the immune system to form memories.
The Oxford University researchers say the drug boosts the process of cell destruction – known as autophagy – which allows the immune system to replenish itself.
The studies on laboratory mice found that the boost led to a stronger immune response to a vaccine than found in a young person.
The researchers have reported their findings in the journal eLife.
Researcher Professor Katja Simon said: “We think that spermidine could be particularly useful alongside many of the vaccines currently in development that protect against other viruses. However, we expect it to be at least five to ten years before a drug reaches the clinic.”
Researcher Daniel Puleston said: “We already know that the over 65s have a problem forming an immune memory and as a consequence infection causes proportionally more deaths in this age group. We’ve now identified a key process involved in this memory formation, and by enhancing this process in aged mice we’ve been able to boost their immune response to vaccination.
"It’s the equivalent of a 90 year old responding to a vaccine better than a 20 year old, which makes this a very exciting pathway to target as a potential way of boosting vaccine protection in the elderly.”
Professor Paul Moss, from the UK Medical Research Council, which backed the research, said: "“As people continue to live longer, there is an urgent need to develop new ways of protecting this group from potentially life-threatening infections. This work is a brilliant example of how cutting-edge immunology can be applied to this challenge and take us a step closer to our goal of making a vaccine that works just as well in the elderly as it does in the young.”
Autophagy is a critical regulator of CD8+ T cell memory formation eLife 11 November 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03706
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