Spermidine: re a study in mice

[Lowaltitude]

I have a question and wasn't quite sure where I should post it, but I thought here, rightly or wrongly might be a good choice.

I have been thinking about the differing response to COV-19 by age and pondering on why this occurs.

The immune system in animals has two components, innate and adaptive, innate is the type we have at birth and adaptive is learned by exposure to infective agents such as a virus.

Adaptive immunity is acquired throughout life by exposure to illness and vaccination, the adaptive immune system stores the knowledge in memory T-cells as it encounters a pathogen.

As we age our ability to autophage T-cells and produce new ones declines, typically at around age 60.

Studies in mice suggest(link below)that a compound called spermidine has the ability to encourage autophaging and the production of new T-cells. This compound in present in a number of food sources.

I wonder if someone with a better knowledge of immunology or organic chemistry could shed further light on this.

So the question is will an intake of a spemidine rich food such as wheatgem help the immune response to  COV-19.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4225493/

[CharonY]

With regard to COVID-19, from epidemiological evidence some researchers think that high susceptibility of the elderly is not necessarily immune-driven. One reason is that children are seemingly not very susceptible to the disease and a second one is that among the elderly comorbidities (e.g.diabetes, respiratory/cardiosvascular issues etc.) seem to be more predictive. Again, this is all preliminary, but it appears that folks with existing health issues have a much higher propensity (estimates go up to ten-fold) to end up in critical condition or dying.

With regard to spermidine, as with all supplements research is difficult and can result in conflicting results. I am a bit careful with interpretation as folks (which sometimes includes researchers) tend to overhype effects a bit.

There is active discussion whether it can exert anti-aging effects on various levels. However, I am only aware of one clinical trial actually testing potential benefits, which was supposed to start last year (i.e. it is still ongoing and no data is available yet) and it is also only a relatively short intervention (12 months). So at this point is not clear how much info one can gleam from it.