Could a supplement to a flu shot help give older adults better protection against infection?
Like many things as we age, our immune system doesn’t work as well as it did during our younger years. When it comes to influenza, that’s a double-whammy for older adults. Not only can the flu lead to more complications when we’re older, but we’re also more susceptible to it, even with a flu shot.
It’s why UConn Health geriatrics researcher Jenna Bartley is studying the effect of the diabetes drug metformin on the immune system.
“I am exploring how altered metabolism contributes to poor immune responses in older adults, as well as exploring a potential therapeutic intervention to improve flu vaccine responses in this vulnerable population,” Bartley says.
She is recruiting study participants who are at least 65 years old who have generally good kidney function and who don’t have diabetes or prediabetes. The study will randomly place each participant in one of two groups: One group will receive metformin and the other will receive a placebo.
More information about Bartley’s study is available at starr.uchc.edu/Study/StudyDetails.aspx?ID=1127 or by contacting Lisa Pesce (860-679-2305, kenyon-pesce@uchc.edu).
The idea is to see if metformin’s effect on metabolism – how our body produces, maintains, and destroys a substance to yield energy – also influences T-cells.
T-cells are our immune system’s foot soldiers, leading the attack against unwelcome intruders, such as a virus. Aging reduces our T-cell responses and in doing so, diminishes our immune response. Inoculation against a virus works because it rallies our T-cell army to identify the virus and fight it. But if fewer soldiers answer the call, they can’t hold off the enemy for as long.
Our metabolism could hold the key to the decline in T-cell function. If we can alter our metabolism in a way that offsets aging’s effect on T-cells, perhaps that army could become more responsive again. This would make the flu shot more protective in older adults than it generally is now.
“Since methods to enhance vaccine efficacy in older adults are limited, this research could provide the groundwork to develop metabolic adjuvants to improve vaccine responses and reduce infectious disease related morbidity and mortality in this population,” Bartley says.
Bartley, an assistant professor in the UConn Health Center on Aging and Department of Immunology, was one of eight postdoctoral fellows in the United States last year to receive an Irene Diamond Fund/AFAR Postdoctoral Transition Award in Aging from the American Federation of Aging Research. The $120,000 grant is backing her study.
This concept, if proven effective, could lead to improved vaccine responses to other infectious diseases. And in that case, this “vaccine-plus” approach could turn into an effective enhancement in preventive medicine, particularly in geriatrics.
It’s important to note, even without the potential of an enhanced immune response to improve the influenza vaccine’s success rate in older patients, the flu shot still gives them their best chance to reduce their risk of infection. The potential complications from influenza make flu shots even more important as we age – so much so that doctors often prefer a high-dose vaccine for their 65-plus patients.
The clinical trial “Vaccination Efficacy with Metformin in Older Adults: A Pilot Study (VEME)” is registered with the Institutional Review Board (IRB No. 19-205-2).
Learn more about geriatrics research in the Center on Aging at UConn Health.
