During childhood, a gland called the “thymus”, which is located behind the sternum, helps develop the immune system. But in adulthood, it was thought to lose its usefulness. However, a recent observational study published in The New England Journal of Medicine points out the opposite.
Sometimes it is removed, in patients with autoimmune diseases, for example, or during heart operations. And researchers have just discovered that if it is extracted at a young age, it leads to a reduction in T cells in the long term. These help to fight germs and diseases.
More risk of cancer
By comparing 6,000 people who had not had a thymectomy and 1,146 people who had undergone one, researchers tried to understand what the long-term effects were when you no longer had this gland. They came to the conclusion that in the five years postoperative, the risks of developing a cancer for people without thymus was doubled.
They do not know exactly what causes this increased risk, but they believe that the removal of the thymus would have a negative impact on the immune system. Blood tests of some patients also revealed that their T cell receptors were less diverse. Until then, it was thought that the thymus no longer played an important role in immunity in adulthood.
Sources: Science Alert, The New England Journal of Medicine
