NovaGen News
Cellular Science & Healthspan Intelligence
Article of the month
Immune ageing reveals a divide between men and women
What’s happening? Duke-NUS Medical School scientists have identified two periods of accelerated immune cell ageing occurring around the age of 40 and again after 60, with significant differences between men and women. Published in Nature Communications, the study analysed 3.8 million immune cells from nearly 2,000 healthy individuals aged 19 to 97. It found that T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the body to fight infections, drive major changes in gene activity at different life stages. The findings also offer clues to women’s greater susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. (Duke-NUS Medical School – press release)
Why does this matter? Globally, people are living longer but spending more years of life in poor health. A 2026 Global Burden of Disease study published in The Lancet Public Health found that the global morbidity gap widened from 8.8 years in 1990 to 10.7 years in 2023. Women consistently experienced a larger gap than men, averaging 12.1 years compared with 9.3 years in 2023, across all levels of socio-demographic development. Understanding how immune ageing differs by sex could help explain this gap and guide more tailored ways to extend healthy life.
Targeted strategies: The Duke-NUS study shows that immune system ageing trajectories differ between men and women, suggesting targeted strategies, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, will be key to maintaining health in later life. The scientists also used data from the analysis to create AI models to predict biological age versus chronological age, which they aim to leverage to identify specific biological pathways and optimum timeframes to deliver sex-specific interventions.
Distinct pathways: A separate paper published in Nature Aging also found that immune system transformation follows different paths between the sexes. Barcelona Supercomputing Center researchers analysed the activity of 20,000 genes in more than a million blood cells from a cohort of almost 1,000 adults of all ages. The results showed that women experience more profound shifts with age that track with higher autoimmune vulnerability. In contrast, men showed more contained overall immune system transformations, yet presented an increased number of cells carrying pre-leukaemia alterations, shedding light on why specific blood cancers occur more often in older men.
Chromosomal drivers: To explore why these trajectories might diverge, a University of Arizona-led review synthesised human, animal and genomic research. The findings point beyond circulating hormones oestrogen and testosterone, suggesting that X and Y chromosomes may play a direct role. Age-related chromosomal changes appear to drive distinct disease patterns. While men who gradually lose the Y chromosome may face higher risks of heart disease, certain cancers and Alzheimer’s, women benefit from X-chromosome immune genes that enhance infection defence and vaccine response. However, this stronger response also raises the risk of conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Clinical implications: A recent article published in npj Aging shows how the intersection of age and biological sex can shape immune health outcomes. The paper points out that tracking these sex-specific immune shifts is crucial not only for mapping autoimmune drivers, but also for tailoring future vaccine protocols and therapeutic interventions to account for how men and women diverge over a lifetime.
Policy blindspot: Beyond biology, these discoveries carry economic and societal implications globally. With chronic disease burdens rising and healthy life expectancy lagging far behind overall lifespan, immunologists and public health organisations, as noted in a British Society for Immunology and CARINA Network report, have begun to argue that immune ageing currently lacks a clear policy home. As research increasingly shows that men and women age differently at a cellular level, the gap between evidence and practice is becoming harder to overlook.
WHAT ELSE CAUGHT OUR EYE THIS MONTH...
$617bn
The annual global market longevity biotech could reach by 2045
Investment in therapies targeting the biology of ageing
Nearly quadrupled in a year
Source: Longevity.Technology
Stat of the month: Investment in therapies targeting the biology of ageing has nearly quadrupled, rising to $18.4bn in 2025 from $4.7bn a year earlier, a Longevity.Technology report has found. A further $12.1bn was raised in 2026 to date, increasingly concentrated in fewer, larger deals. The report assessed more than 3,000 therapeutic assets, over 1,000 of which are already in human trials. It estimated the existing pipeline could generate $230bn in risk-adjusted peak annual sales through established disease pathways such as cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic conditions. However, gerotherapeutics still lack a dedicated US or EU regulatory category, while validated ageing biomarkers and trial endpoints remain unresolved.
Key developments
Voice analysis links faster ageing to dementia risk: An AI tool that estimates age from speech could help flag dementia risk, a study published in Science Advances has suggested. Researchers analysed more than 700 speech features, including pauses, pitch and vocabulary, in recordings of over 2,900 Spanish-speaking adults aged 18 to 88 across five Latin American countries. Participants whose speech sounded older than their actual age were more likely to have cognitive impairment, dementia and faster biological ageing as measured by DNA-based tests. However, many participants were assessed only once, so the study could not show whether voice changes predict future decline. The model also needs testing in other languages. Live Science
Fear of outliving savings curbs retirement spending: Most Americans aged 50 and over do not feel free to spend savings on things they enjoy, with 86% reporting discomfort in a Prudential Financial survey of 3,023 people. Even among those holding $500,000 or more in investable assets, 61% felt uncomfortable spending for enjoyment. More than half would rather leave money behind than run out, or preferred to preserve their assets, rising to 70% among wealthier respondents. Doubts over Social Security, inflation, health and long-term care costs were the top reasons for holding back. Two-thirds would choose a guaranteed monthly income over a lump sum, while only 16% had a withdrawal strategy. Quartz
FDA names ageing a regulatory science priority: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that ageing will feature in its next set of regulatory science priorities. Officials at the Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting in Boston said the update was tentatively due in the 2027 fiscal year. They outlined two routes to approval for therapies targeting ageing, including showing benefit across several age-related conditions, or slowing the decline of physical and mental capacities. Justin Penzenstadler, an acting associate director in an FDA drug review office, favoured initial trials in older, higher-risk patients. He also urged companies to agree on shared biomarkers and pool trial results. Lifespan.io
Active over-60s emerge as Asia’s overlooked market: Some 733 million people aged 60 and over across 14 Asia-Pacific markets will hold $7.1tn in savings by 2030, a report by Ageing Asia and Singapore Management University has estimated. Industry leaders surveyed for the report named health care and travel as the top two spending sectors for the group. The report described two markets, including a “care economy” serving over-75s and a “consumer economy” covering travel, wellness and lifestyle for those aged 60 to 75, which existing ageing-sector players largely overlook. It argued businesses serving active older adults and later transitioning them into care would secure the longest-lasting customer relationships. Respondents rated current services just 2.8 out of five. The Business Times
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