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Sustained low-level inflammation is a hallmark of the aging process. The accumulating damage persistently activates the innate immune system—the body's first line of defense—leading to what is known as inflammaging, functional decline and chronic diseases of old age.

Unlike the adaptive immune system, which switches on and off based on the specific pathogens it recognizes, innate immune sentinels such as macrophages can recognize a diverse array of danger signals. The mechanism of this pattern recognition has remained an enigma, however.

In a new study published in Cell, researchers at Yale School of Medicine found that the amino acid taurine is key to the way the innate immune system senses danger signals. What's more, boosting taurine levels may diminish the effects of inflammaging.

"Biology has lots of surprises," says senior author Vishwa Deep Dixit, Ph.D., Waldemar Von Zedtwitz professor of pathology and director of the Yale Center for Research on Aging (Y-Age) at Yale School of Medicine. "And the biggest surprise in this study is that taurine is controlling the innate sensing mechanism."

Dixit first became interested in taurine after finding that it increased as people restricted their calorie intake for up to one year as part of the CALERIE study. He and his team also found that moderate calorie restriction led to lower chronic inflammation —something that enhances a healthy lifespan. But calorie restriction is not practical for most adults, and there was little evidence as to whether taurine linked metabolism to the immune system.

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