Dr Miriam Stoppard on the longevity of our immune systems, and how important they are in ensuring our lifelong protection as we grow older
Without our immune system we are nothing, and the more research we do the stronger this conviction becomes.
Dr Alessio Lanna, Honorary ÂProfessor at UCL and lead author of a new study explains: “Immune cells are on constant high alert, always ready to fight pathogens. To be effective, they must also persist for decades in the body, but the strategies employed to execute this lifelong protection are largely unknown.”
Her research aims to find out how our immune system can last a lifetime, especially our T cells which initiate the immune response against any foreign substance that could harm the body.
All our cells contain chromosomes and each has a protective cap called a telomere that’s crucial for ageing. Telomeres act as an ageing clock that keeps cells young by controlling the number of times they can divide and replace themselves.