The immune clock starts earlier than we think ⏳🧬
A landmark Nature study shows that immune aging begins quietly in midlife — decades before clinical frailty.
Using >16M single-cell profiles and longitudinal vaccine responses, researchers found:
• Stable, early transcriptional drift in naïve & memory T cells
• A subtle TH2 shift that may weaken antiviral antibody quality
• Reduced IgG class-switching to repeat flu antigens (e.g., B/Phuket)
• No acceleration from CMV infection despite compositional shifts
The message?
Immune aging is gradual, not abrupt — and midlife may be the window for intervention.
Precision immunology will increasingly mean precision geroscience.
