Thymus hormone identified as key player in reversing age-related inflammation

Chronic, low-grade inflammation in the body-a phenomenon known as "inflammaging" because it increases with age-has been linked to many of today's leading causes of illness and death, including cancer, heart disease, metabolic conditions and neurodegenerative diseases. But scientists have struggled to understand what causes inflammaging or how to reverse its effects.

Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have now identified the thymus, a small organ behind the breastbone that plays a central role in immune system development, as a key player in inflammaging. They discovered that thymulin, a hormone produced by the organ, keeps inflammation under control. As we age, thymulin decreases and inflammation increases, allowing diseases like cancer to progress. In older mice, increasing thymulin levels improved cancer survival and made immunotherapy more effective. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was just published in Nature Communications.

This is the first evidence of a substance that is naturally produced in the thymus, declines with age, and has the power to reverse age-related inflammation."

Fumito Ito, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and immunology and immune therapeutics, Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study