Finding affordable measures of immune aging
A Nature commentary proposes identifying affordable measures of immune health through repeated assessments, independent validation, and tests of whether their use improves clinical outcomes.
A Nature commentary proposes finding affordable measures of immune aging
A commentary published on October 27 in the scientific journal Nature proposes identifying a few inexpensive tests to assess immune health and aging. One coauthor, Hugo Aerts, is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
The plan starts with repeated assessments of the same people to build a detailed description of their immune systems, or immunome: blood proteins, individual cells, images of immune organs, and responses to vaccination. Researchers would then identify a small set of measures suitable for routine care. The response to a routine vaccination could become one way to assess immune function.
One example already links such a measure to health. A neural network assessed the thymus, the organ where immune T-cells mature, using computed tomography scans. Among 25,031 participants in lung cancer screening, estimated 12-year mortality was 13.4% in the quarter with the highest scores and 25.5% in the quarter with the lowest scores. The association remained after accounting for age, sex, and smoking.
These data link the thymus score to mortality in a specific screening population. Using it to choose treatment requires a separate test of whether those decisions improve disease outcomes. Applying the result to other populations also requires testing: combinations of measurements identified by artificial intelligence may reflect differences between hospitals and the people they assess. Models therefore need validation in independent groups.
Before these measurements enter widespread use, the authors propose establishing rules for consent, data sharing, and protection against discrimination. An immune profile can indicate susceptibility to future disease and changes over time, so the rules must also cover updates and how results are communicated to each person.
The clinical value of the proposed measures still needs to be established: they must help clinicians choose prevention or treatment that improves disease outcomes. The reported association between the thymus score and mortality alone does not establish that benefit.
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Sources
[1] nature.com
[2] nature.com
[3] nature.com
[4] nature.com
This item connects Hugo Aerts's stated Harvard Medical School affiliation to the organization's Eternal Search page while giving readers a concrete standard for judging future immune aging tests: whether they improve clinical decisions and patient outcomes.