UA News

The immune system might hold the answer to staying young.

It may turn out that the much-sought “fountain of youth” springs from within, with a little regulation of the immune system.

Getting older and fatter are events known to contribute to increased heart disease, but we don’t understand all the reasons for these associations. Immunologists at The University of Arizona have identified one culprit, immune dysfunction, which is part of the aging process. They also have identified a way to slow this process.

The UA’s Ronald Ross Watson has patented a treatment that shows promise for normalizing immune function in the aged.

Watson is a professor of public health and interim director of the Division of Health Promotion Sciences in Public Health at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He also is a professor of family and community medicine at the UA College of Medicine and a member of the UA Sarver Heart Center.

"Modulation of Immune Response and Methods Based Thereon #7,323,174," the first patent obtained by a faculty member of the College of Public Health, has the potential to slow heart failure by immune regulation. Heart failure, which affects 5 million Americans and adds 550,000 to the list each year, is incurable.

“This patent shows that treatment of immune dysfunction with novel peptides from the immune cells can significantly normalize immune function in the aged. It supports a theory being studied at the UA that immune dysfunction promotes heart failure,” Watson explained.

Collaborating UA researchers in the Sarver Heart Center, including Douglas Larson, professor of surgery, pharmacology and toxicology, and graduate student Sherma Zibadi, recently found that immunoregulatory agents, including those described in the patent, as well as novel dietary supplements, show promise in treating heart failure in aged mice with immune dysfunction.

The researchers now need support to test this theory and the novel agents further, including in people, Watson said.

The patent builds upon a previous patent given to Watson that is being developed commercially in Phoenix by Craig Woods of IMULAN BioTherapeutics. “We are developing this new treatment for a variety of frustrating veterinary diseases which are comparative to human diseases. The technology is showing substantial promise and has entered a number of trials of veterinary dermatology, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases,” Woods said.

Watson and Larson co-edited a book published in 2007, "Immune Dysfunction and Immunotherapy in Heart Disease," in which they propose a new mechanism for treating heart failure: immune mediated cardiac remodeling for cardiac dysfunction.