Improving Vaccination in Older Adults by Inducing Autophagy With Spermidine

From the registry

Easing the morbidity and economic burden of age-related diseases is one of the major medical challenges. One of the key obstacles to healthy ageing is immune senescence, including the failure of lymphocytes to respond adequately to infection, malignancy and vaccination. Infectious diseases remain the fourth most common cause of death among the elderly in the developed world. Moreover, the gain of chronic low-grade non-specific inflammation with age contributes to many age-related diseases. Our early work showed that autophagy, the main cellular bulk degradation pathway in the cell, prevents ageing of the immune system. In preclinical models we showed an age-related decline in T cell autophagy. We rejuvenated the immune system by restoring autophagy in T and B cells with the autophagy-inducing metabolite spermidine. Here we are asking for matched funds for a small human clinical trial to confirm that spermidine has the same effect when administered to humans. We will give the nutraceutical spermidine to human volunteers aged \>65 years either during or after vaccination against…