Overview
- Harvard and Mass General researchers reported in Nature that a CT‑based thymus score from more than 27,500 adults was tied to about 50% lower premature death, 63% lower heart‑related death, and 36% lower lung cancer risk.
- In separate cancer cohorts of patients on checkpoint‑inhibitor therapy, higher scores were linked to roughly 37% lower risk of disease progression and 44% lower risk of death.
- The team used deep learning to rate thymus size, shape, and tissue makeup on CT scans, and the associations held after accounting for age, smoking, and other health factors, though the findings show correlation rather than cause.
- Thymus shrinkage differed by person and tracked with lifestyle, including smoking, obesity, and high cholesterol, and it tended to decline more slowly in women, which hints at factors that might be modifiable if future trials confirm it.
- Mechanistic clues included broader T‑cell receptor diversity in people with healthier glands, and prior work found unique natural killer cells in infant thymus tissue and higher cancer and death rates after thymus removal in 2023, adding context for how this organ shapes immunity.