credit: iStockphoto/Henrik JonssonUCSF researchers led by Edward J. Goetzl, MD at UCSF and the National Institute on Aging, believe they have an existing medication that could restore aging immune systems, extending the period of healthy aging.

Extremely low doses of the drug lenalidomide reactivate the body’s immune-cell protein factories, diminishing inflammation that leads to a steady decline in good health.

In 2009 Dr. Goetzl studied a group of 50 elderly adults, discovering that truly healthy 70-80 year old women had the same levels of key cytokines as healthy 20 year olds. Their immune systems were in balance.