RESEARCH
Rapamycin Study: Immune Status & PhenoAge
As part of the AgelessRx observational initiative, we present the Rapamycin Immune and PhenoAge study. This effort specifically focuses on Rapamycin’s effects on blood biomarkers, Rapamycin’s effect on physiological age, measured by PhenoAge, and Rapamycin’s effect on immune systems status, measured by the Immune System Questionnaire (ISQ). These endpoints have been built directly into the Rapamycin protocol.
What is the Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ)?
The ISQ is a self-assessment health questionnaire consisting of a series of short, subjective questions intended to evaluate a patient’s immune status in the past 12 months.1 While there are several ways to measure immune function, many methods are invasive and objective, never taking into account how patients experience their immune fitness. While measuring the level of a cytokine can reveal more information equivalent to detecting multiple diseases, the ISQ considers lifestyle and comorbidities in combination with these results, providing a more precise immune status assessment. As a self-assessment, the ISQ comes with many beneficial applications for research purposes, clinical application, and for individuals invested in their health and longevity.
What is PhenoAge?
PhenoAge is an established biomarker-based aging clock algorithm that can assess if you are physiologically younger or older than your chronological age. PhenoAge uses data that is collected from standard laboratory blood tests to calculate differences in the risk of mortality, physical/cognitive performance and facial aging among same-aged individuals to predict physiological age.
Why PhenoAge and the ISQ?
When taking any supplement or medication, it is important to routinely assess how your body is reacting and how you are feeling. Pairing PehnoAge data with data collected from the ISQ allows for a more complete understanding of changes in longevity-centered biomarkers due to Rapamycin. This unique combination of PhenoAge and ISQ data collection will account for how patients experience their immune status while providing accurate predictions of physiological age.
1 J F Wilod Versprille L, J A E van de Loo A, Mackus M, et al. Development and Validation of the Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ). Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(23):4743. Published 2019 Nov 27. doi:10.3390/ijerph16234743