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Journal of Human Immunity

Rates of some self-targeting antibodies level off in centenarians

Antibodies that block virus-fighting proteins occurred in 5.4% of 938 centenarians, compared with more than 6% of people over 80 in the general population.

Paper by Nanna Mørk, Jørgen Bjerggaard Jensen, Paul Bastard, 16 more authorsTrine Hyrup Mogensen · Aarhus University
Figure 1 from Journal of Human Immunity
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Figure 1. Mørk et al.
Cross-sectional study of 938 adults aged ≥95 years, against French adults aged ≥80 yearsPopulations

Multicenter

Limit: Antibody carriers may die before reaching centenarian age, creating an apparent plateau among survivors

Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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An observational study of 938 centenarians in Denmark, Colombia, Australia and Japan examined the prevalence of self-targeting antibodies. These antibodies neutralize type I interferons, proteins involved in the body’s defense against viruses. The cohorts included 258 people in Denmark, 99 in Colombia, 281 in Australia and 300 in Japan.

Researchers found these antibodies in 51 participants, or 5.4%. Their prevalence ranged from 3.3% in Japan to 9.1% in Colombia. The share leveled off compared with people aged 80 and older in the general population. The researchers concluded that these antibodies were not incompatible with exceptional longevity, despite the risk of life-threatening viral infections they confer.

Why it matters

Age-related increases in these antibodies raise questions about their role in survival into extreme old age. The authors suggested they may not favor exceptional longevity and may be linked to higher mortality.

Caveats

This observational comparison of antibody prevalence cannot establish an effect on mortality. The results concern centenarians from four countries.

From the paper

Participants

Among 258 Danish centenarians, a total of 18 individuals (7.0%) harbored neutralizing auto-Abs against at least one IFN-I subtype (Fig. 2, A and B).

Results, Prevalence of neutralizing IFN-I auto-Abs in centenarians

Result

The overall odds ratio (OR) for centenarian males versus centenarian females was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63–2.50; P = 0.49), indicating no significant association between sex and the presence of neutralizing IFN-I auto-Abs.

Results, Prevalence of neutralizing IFN-I auto-Abs in centenarians stratified by sex

Quoted word for word from the full text on rupress.org.

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