Why is the flu deadlier for older people?

The flu It is still one of the most serious respiratory infections globally, especially in older peoplethat have a much higher risk of suffering complications and death. As the world population ages, understanding the biological mechanisms that explain this vulnerability has become a scientific and medical priority.

Scientists of the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) in collaboration with other international researchers have discovered why older people are more likely to suffer severe flu. Now they can use their findings to address this risk.

In a new study published in ‘Pnas‘, experts discovered that older people produce a glycosylated protein called apoplipoprotein D (APOD), which participates in lipid metabolism and inflammation, at much higher levels than in younger people. This reduces patient’s ability to resist viral infectionresulting in a more serious evolution of the disease.

How APOD weakens the immune response in the elderly

The team established that highly high APOD production with age in the lung causes a extensive tissue damage during infection to reduce the protective response of the antiviral type I interferon.

Aging is an important risk factor in death -related deaths. In addition, the world’s population is aging at an unprecedented rate in the history of humanity, which raises important challenges for medical care and economy. “Therefore, we need to find out why older patients usually suffer from the infection with the influenza virus,” says Professor Kin-How Chang, of the Faculty of Medicine and Veterinary Sciences of the University of Nottingham, and co-author of the article.

In this new study, the team investigated the mechanisms behind the increase in the severity of the infection by the influenza virus With age using an aged mouse model and human fabric sections of appropriate donors.

They identified the APOD as a cell factor related to the age that alters the activation of the antiviral response of the immune system in the face of the influenza virus infection, causing extensive degradation of mitochondria (mythophagy), which results in a greater production of viruses and pulmonary damage during infection.

The Mitochondria They are essential for cell production of energy and induction of protective interferons. Therefore, APOD is an objective of therapeutic intervention to protect against serious flu virus in the elderly, which would have an important impact on the reduction of morbidity and mortality in the population that ages.

Professor Chang concludes: “Now there is an exciting opportunity to therapeutically improve the severity of the disease in older people caused by the infection by the influenza virus through the inhibition aimed at APOD.”