Shingles Vaccine Could Slow Aging

Commonly called shingles, actually called herpes zoster, is a painful, blistering skin rash caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk of contracting it; Although this disease can occur at younger ages, the risk is greater in people older than 50 years and in immunosuppressed people.

The shingles vaccine is one of the most frequently recommended for its ability to reduce the risk of a painful infection and its complications. Vaccination, usually only given to older people, offers protection against shingles and reduces the likelihood of postherpetic neuralgia or pain long term after an infection.

Some experts have begun to explore whether this vaccine can influence other aspects of long-term health, especially in the aging process. This study asks what is true: can the vaccine stop aging?

What relationship does the vaccine have with aging?

Using data from US Health and Retirement StudyIn a nationally representative study, researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology examined how shingles vaccination affected various aspects of biological aging in more than 3,800 participants of the study that they had 70 years or more in 2016. The main conclusion is that the shingles vaccine not only protects against the disease, but may also contribute to slower biological aging in older adults.

Even when controlling for other sociodemographic and health variables, those who received the shingles vaccine showed slower overall biological aging on average compared to unvaccinated individuals.

What does biological aging really measure?

Although vaccines are designed to protect against acute infectionsRecent research has highlighted a possible connection between adult vaccines, including those for shingles and flu, and lower risks of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders, according to research associate professor of gerontology Jung Ki Kimfirst author of the study.

“This study adds to emerging evidence that vaccines could play a role in promoting healthy aging by modulating biological systems beyond infection prevention,” he says.

Unlike chronological aging, Biological aging refers to how the body changes over timeincluding the proper functioning of organs and systems. Two people from 65 years They can look very different: one may have the biological profile of someone younger, while another may show signs of aging earlier.

In the new study, the researchers measured seven aspects of biological aging: inflammation; innate immunity (the body’s general defenses against infections); adaptive immunity (responses to specific pathogens after exposure or vaccination); cardiovascular hemodynamics (blood flow);
neurodegeneration; epigenetic aging (changes in how genes are turned on or off); transcriptomic aging (changes in the way genes are transcribed into RNA used to create proteins). The team also used the measures collectively to record a composite biological aging score.

Study results confirm slow aging

On average, vaccinated people had significantly lower inflammation measures, slower epigenetic and transcriptomic aging, and lower composite biological aging scores. The results provide more information about the possible underlying mechanisms to the interaction between the health of the immune system and the aging process.

Chronic low-level inflammation is a well-known factor that contributes to many age-related conditions, such as heart disease, frailty and cognitive decline. This phenomenon is known as “inflammation,” says Kim.

“By helping to reduce this background inflammation, possibly preventing reactivation of the virus that causes shingles, the vaccine could contribute to healthier aging”points out the author. “While the exact biological mechanisms remain unknown, the potential for vaccination to reduce inflammation makes it a promising addition to broader strategies aimed at promoting resilience and slowing age-related decline.”

These potential benefits could also be persistent. When analyzing how time since vaccination affected the results, the researchers found that participants who received the vaccine four or more years before providing their blood sample still had, on average, a epigenetic agingtranscriptomic and general biological slower than unvaccinated participants.

“These findings indicate that shingles vaccination influences key aspects related to the aging process,” the authors conclude.

“While more research is needed to replicate and extend these findings, especially through longitudinal and experimental designs, our study adds to a growing body of work suggesting that vaccines could play a role in healthy aging strategiesbeyond the simple prevention of acute diseases,” they say.