In this interview with Dr. Joe Rafaelle, he explains the critical role of CMV in the aging of the immune system. As you immune system ages, it depletes your stem cell reserve
Are your naïve T-cells more like Martin Riggs or Roger Murtaugh?
Interestingly, Naive T-Cells can be further subdivided into “good cops” and “bad cops” as in Lethal Weapon. The good ones, present in younger, healthier individuals, are naive and ready to go, like Bat-guano crazy Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs character. The bad ones are like Danny Glover’s character, Roger Murtaugh, hiking up their pants and counting the days to retirement while muttering “I’m too old for this $h!t”
CMV robs us of our youth in two nefarious ways
So we suspected that chronic CMV infection ages us but we only conprehended that the immune system burns out fighting it. Until this paper, we didn’t realize that it also steals the healthy gene transciption factors that the host cell needs to stabilize its telomers. It’s a double whammy.
AIDS is Aging, and vice versa
We know that Immune health deteriorates as you age. But did you know that the aging of your immune system may be an important CAUSE of aging in general? The thymus is a small but essential organ overlying your breastplate where fresh immune cells from the bone marrow, aka the “T Cells” (for thymus), become mature. It is like a …