The thymus: an important part of aging and cancer that science has ignored for decades | Health

Two new studies by researchers at Brigham General Mass.have debunked decades of belief about the bamus (basically known instrument).

Two new studies by researchers from Mass.General Brigham questions the decades-old belief that the thymus—an organ known primarily for its role in the development of immune function during childhood—is no longer relevant in adulthood.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze routine CT scans, researchers have found that adults with healthy fibroids live longer and have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.In a separate study of cancer patients, researchers found that the health of fibroids affects the response to immunotherapy, which depends on the strength of the patient's immune system.

These findings, published in two papers in the same issue of the journal Nature, suggest that the thymus plays a greater role in aging health than previously thought, and may be a new target for self-disease prevention and cancer treatment.

"The thymus has been overlooked for decades and may be the missing piece in explaining why people age differently and why cancer treatments fail in some patients," Hugo Aerts, lead author of the paper and director of the Mass General Brigham's Artificial Intelligence (AIM) program, said in a statement.

What is the thymus gland and what role does it play in the body?

The thymus is a small organ located in the chest that helps train T cells, preparing the immune system to defend the body against infection and disease.For many years, doctors believed that after puberty, the organ is virtually inactive because it shrinks with age and produces fewer new T cells.As a result, its role in adult health is rarely studied in large populations.

Previous studies have linked T cell diversity to aging and immune deficiency, but most of these studies have been based on small blood tests.Instead, the new study examined more than 25,000 adults in the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial and more than 2,500 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, a large, long-term population-based cohort of generally healthy adults.

What are the most promising results?

The team analyzed the size, shape and composition of the thymus and created a 'thymus health' score.People with high thyroid health scores had a 50% lower risk of death, a 63% lower risk of cardiovascular death, and a 36% lower risk of lung cancer than people with low thyroid health.These associations remained significant after adjusting for age and other health factors.

Researchers hypothesize that when thymus health and T-cell diversity decline, the immune system may be less able to respond to new threats, such as cancer or other diseases.Their analysis found that chronic inflammation, smoking, and being overweight are associated with poor thymus health, suggesting that lifestyle and systemic inflammation may affect immune resilience throughout life.

Thymus as a predictor of response to antitumor therapy

In the second study, researchers analyzed CT scans and results from more than 1,200 patients who received immunotherapy. Even after accounting for other patient, tumor, and treatment-related factors, patients with better arrhythmias had an approximately 37% lower risk of cancer and a 44% lower risk of death. These results suggest a role for the thymus gland in patient response to modern cancer immunotherapies.has been underestimated so far.

The researchers caution that their findings will need to be confirmed in future studies and that the imaging method is not yet ready for routine clinical use.Although a relationship between lifestyle factors and thymus health has been observed, research has not determined whether changing these factors can directly improve thymus function.

The team is currently conducting further research to investigate whether other health-related factors may affect thymus health.In one study, they are investigating whether inadvertent radiation to the thymus of lung cancer patients may affect outcomes.

"Improving our understanding and monitoring of thermos health will help doctors better assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions," Arts said.