Aging weakens the immune system

As the years pass, our immune system wanes and this becomes a problem for advanced cancer treatments such as CAR-T therapy. Researchers at the University of Lausanne, have found that age directly weakens this powerful technology, where a patient’s T-cells are reprogrammed to attack the tumor.

CAR-T therapy is like giving the immune system a superpower: T cells are “taught” to find and destroy cancer cells. But in the elderly mice the team studied, these cells performed worse. Their mitochondria – the cells’ “powerhouses” – didn’t do well, and the cells themselves lost flexibility and strength. The cause? Levels of a substance called NAD, key to energy and metabolism, were dropping with age.

Dr. Helen Carrasco Hope, lead author, shares, “In older individuals, the T cells were suffocating – they couldn’t fight the tumor effectively. But we found a way out: by raising NAD levels, we gave them back their youthful vigor.” In experiments on mice such “rejuvenated” cells again actively crushed cancer. This discovery gives hope that the therapy will become more powerful for older people.

The issue of age in medicine is not just a number on a passport. It changes how the body responds to treatment. The team used NAD-boosting compounds that are already being tested for other diseases. This means the method could be adapted for humans, making the therapy more precise. “We are moving towards a treatment that takes into account the age of the patient,” says Dr. Nicola Vannini, senior author.

Why it’s needed. Most cancer patients are elderly, but trials are often done on young models. This skews the picture. Scientists are calling for age to be taken into account at all stages of developing new treatments so that drugs work for those who need them most. Boosting NAD could be a simple but powerful step toward personalized medicine, where every patient gets a chance to beat cancer.