Viruses and bacteria are constantly attacking the human body. T cells are natures way of fighting back. A form of white blood cells, T cells are utilized in fighting off diseases and infections.
If your body identifies a foreign body that may harbor disease or sickness, the T cell will be deployed to destroy the invader. If more help is needed for protection, the cells will replicate themselves.
But sooner or later in in our life, the replication of T cells comes to an end. Then, as the immune system becomes weaker, it is more susceptible to serious infection, vaccine response is lower and cancer risks increase.
What causes T cells to stop replicating? The answer is: Telomeres.
The DNA of every cell is capped at both ends by telomeres. As the chromosomes reproduce, the telomeres keep the DNA from unraveling.
But the telomeres become shorter with each cell duplication. Sooner or later the DNA would unravel if the telomeres got too short. The danger of this occurrence is that the cell stops duplicating and goes dormant.
T cells act like this as the body ages. Immune systems are usually stronger in younger people. That is why elderly people become sick more quickly.
But There Is Also Good News
Telomerase is a natural enzyme already in the body that can actually make the telomeres longer. The non active telomerase is in all cells. Cells can start to replicate more often without damage once the telomerase becomes active.
The immune system can get rejuvenated once telomerase is activated. A decrease of short telomeres by 10 to 50% was found in one aging biomarker. And a 10 to 20% reduction in the number of immune cells that were “sleeping” was also noted. This indicates that activation of telomerase could represent a five to twenty year age reversal.
This discovery can be considered as one of the biggest of our time.
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