#thymus — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #thymus, aggregated by home.social.
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Located directly behind the sternum, the #Thymus is a primary lymphoid organ where T cells mature to form the foundation of the adaptive immune system.
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Two studies published last March used computed tomography (CT) scans of over 27,000 people to assess the condition of the thymus, and evaluated health and mortality data for the following 12 years in relation to the thymic health score. Better thymic health was associated with lower risks of CVD, cancer, and mortality.
Paper 1: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10242-y
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Could this mysterious disappearing organ hold the key to longevity?
Researchers are racing to regrow the thymus,
an ephemeral immune organ,
in the hope that it will slow ageing.In 1996, cryobiologist Gregory Fahy walked into his physician’s office and talked his way into a month’s supply of growth hormone.
His hope,
bolstered by a single study in rats,
was that the injections would help him to regrow his thymus
— a peculiar immune organ that atrophies and practically disappears as people age.Regenerating it, Fahy thought, would help him to live a longer, healthier life.
The improvement was obvious, at least according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, Fahy says.
His functional thymic mass nearly doubled.
Whether it made him feel any younger, however, was less clear.
“I was only 46 at the time, and more or less in peak health,” he says
-- although subsequent attempts to regrow the tissue left him feeling “energized and invincible”.What started as an unregulated
self-experiment
has developed into a series of small clinical trials run by a biopharmaceutical company called "Intervene Immune"
in Torrance, California,
at which Fahy is chief scientific officer.The company is not alone.
⚠️An explosion of thymus research has taken place over the past three years,
stimulated by reports in the literature that the health of the organ,
once thought dispensable,
is a probable indicator of a person’s overall health.💥Excitement intensified when a pair of studies published this year reported that dwindling thymic health correlates with an increased risk of death
Many scientists assumed that fresh T cells were no longer needed for older individuals.
“People are under the impression that it’s only important to make your
T cells when you’re young,” says Jennifer Cowan,
an immunologist at University College London.“And that’s just quite clearly not the case.”
Three discoveries changed that paradigm.
First, a 2023 study found that
🔥people who had their thymus surgically removed were almost three times more likely to die
and twice as likely to develop a cancer five years after the surgery
than were people who had not had their thymus removed.“It was very striking,” Cowan says,
“to the point where people aren’t going to want to have their thymus removed if they’ve read that paper.”Then, in March, two back-to-back studies collectively analysed data from more than 31,000 individuals
and extended the findings to people with intact thymuses that had naturally withered with age.One found that
🔥a smaller thymus correlates with a higher risk of death
as well as a higher risk of developing cancer
and cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure.The second found that
🔥 a smaller thymus is linked to worse survival after receiving immunotherapy for cancer.👉 Some scientists point out that the studies only offer correlations.
“When you’re looking retrospectively,
there’s a lot of pieces of the puzzle that are just not knowable,”
says Daniel Boffa,
a thoracic surgeon at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.He and his colleagues performed a study that found little difference in the risk for recurring tumours among people who had all or part of their thymus removed to treat thymic cancer8.
⭐️Nevertheless, commercial and academic interest in the thymus has surged.
#longevity #thymus #immunology 🧪
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02149-5 -
Studies Link Adult Thymus Health to Longevity, Disease Risk, and Cancer Immunotherapy Outcomes
📰 Original title: The forgotten organ that could predict how long you live
🤖 IA: It's clickbait ⚠️
👥 Users: It's clickbait ⚠️ -
#Thymus is a primary lymphoid organ of the immune system that acts as a "training academy" for T-cells (T-lymphocytes).
It is essential for developing adaptive immunity, which allows your body to recognize and remember specific pathogens like viruses and bacteria.
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Thymus schützt auch Erwachsene vor Krankheit. Zustand der Thymusdrüse beeinflusst Risiko für Krebs, Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen und Tod. #Thymus #Thymusdruese #Gesundheit #Immunsystem #Krebsrisiko
https://www.scinexx.de/news/medizin/thymus-schuetzt-auch-erwachsene-vor-krankheit/ -
Überraschung: Der Thymus liefert nicht nur T-Zellen für die Immunabwehr. Erproduziert auch einzigartige Killerzellen mit der Lizenz zum Tumortöten. #Krebs #Thymus #Killerzelle #NKZelle #Immunsystem
https://www.scinexx.de/news/medizin/thymus-entpuppt-sich-als-killerzell-fabrik/ -
#Influenza virus #infection in the #lungs leads to #pancytopenia and defective immune cell differentiation program in the #thymus and bone marrow, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2025/04/influenza-virus-infection-in-lungs.html
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Initially, the thymus was believed to be an endocrine organ because its removal in early life caused changes in the ovaries and testes. Now, we understand these changes were linked to autoimmunity. 🤔🔬💡
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Vielen Dank, aber die Wiederentdeckung des antiken #Thymos, unterteilbar in die #Isothymia und die #Megalothymia stammt nicht von mir, sondern vom Politikwissenschaftler Francis Fukuyama in "Identität", 2019. Fand sie jedoch philosophisch und politikwissenschaftlich sehr stark und habe sie daher gerne für den deutschen Sprachraum aufgegriffen. 👇📚😊 (Anatomisch ist der antike Begriff übrigens in den #Thymus eingegangen.)
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Dear friends of thyme and time and :peppermintos:,
#Thymus caborn #wine-and-roses needs full sun has flowers and likes well drained but poor soil. It is drought resistant. May grow it indoors for now ... I also have a Strawberry mint for #Wimbledon Wombles.
So far only two strawberry flowers from my gay strawberries. I planted them in bright pink pots so they would be gay. Nurture plus nature. :heart_pride:
My LGBT strawberries were a real adventure last year. If mixed with pepper and strawberry mint, berries will make an excellent smoothie or just fruit #salad ... Apparently, Strawberry Mint is quite a delicate #mint (also available as a Linux) should start pink #flowering and attracting #bees in July. 🎉 -
When FTOC's aren't enough:
'Contrary to two-dimensional cultures, thymic epithelial organoids maintained thymus functionality in vitro and mediated physiological T cell development upon reaggregation with T cell progenitors. The reaggregates showed in vivo-like epithelial diversity and ability to attract T cell progenitors.'
#Immunology #Preprint #Organoid #Thymushttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.05.583513v1?med=mas
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Researchers discovered that #Bcells play an active role in teaching #Tcells not to attack the body itself. If the "training" fails, #autoimmunediseases such as #neuromyelitis optica can develop: http://go.tum.de/562972
📷J. Böttcher, T. Korn
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In children and adolescents, the #thymus gland functions as a "school for T cells". The organ in our chest is where the precursors of those T cells that would later attack the body's own cells are discarded. #Epithelial cells in the thymus present a large number of molecules that occur in the body to the future T cells.
#Biology #Medical #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2024/02/bio02212402.html -
Study Reveals Unexpected Importance of the #Thymus in Adults.
"The thymus gland is often thought of as nonfunctional in adults & is sometimes #removed during #cardiac #surgery—a process known as thymectomy.
Compared with adults who did not have their thymus removed, adults who underwent thymectomy had a nearly 3-times higher risk of dying over 5 yrs & a 2-times higher risk of developing #cancer during that time."
@MennoWolff -
'Useless' Organ That Doctors Often Remove Could Actually Fight #Cancer.
https://www.sciencealert.com/useless-organ-that-doctors-often-remove-could-actually-fight-cancer
"There's a small fatty gland that sits behind your sternum and is often said to be 'useless' in adulthood.
A recent retrospective study, however, suggests the thymus gland is not nearly as expendable as experts once thought."
#Cancer #Thymus -
I have been building a shed with green roof for bins. Frame is now nearly finished. I am raising my own plants for the green roof from cuttings. #greenroof #sedum #sempervivum #saxifraga #origanum #Thymus
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If neither cancer nor an accident kills you, you'll probably die because of thymic involution (i.e. degeneration of the thymus; the gland in which T cells differentiate, develop, and mature). Even if you die of cancer, it might be the consequence of immunosenescence due to thymic involution.
So, why isn't there more research into thymic rejuvenation?
#thymus #aging #cancer #disease #death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymic_involution -
A company with a process to generate new thymus tissue for immune system functions is receiving a $37 million award from the government's health breakthrough agency.
https://sciencebusiness.technewslit.com/?p=45277
#News #Press #Science #Business #Thymus #ImmuneSystem #TCells #ARPAH #Biotechnology #StemCells #TissueEngineering #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #Algorithms
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The thymus, a small gland behind your sternum, may actually fight cancer, according to a new study. The study found that people who had their thymus removed during heart surgery had a higher risk of death and cancer than those who did not. The study suggests that the thymus, which is often considered ‘useless’ in adulthood, still plays a vital role in the immune system and should be preserved if possible.
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Turns out the thymus IS important after all - who would have guessed? 😅
