Doctor Manuel Leal is managing the Experimental Immune Virology Laboratory (in Virgen del Rocío University Hospital and Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS), where clinic and basic science researchers work) where he leads a project to establish the functional nature of the thymus gland in adults. So far, it has been proven that this gland keeps on producing lymphocytes in the old age (Ferrando-Martínez et al. AGE, in press), which is a novelty because until very recently it was considered that this organ lost its immune capacity after the puberty. At the same time, the researchers, in collaboration with the Dr. Antonio Ordoñez from the Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery Service, have developed a successful method to obtain thymus samples in vivo from patients subjected to heart surgery. These are the results of a project of excellence of the Andalusian Ministry of Innovation, funded with 197,299 euros.
The thymus is a gland with an important role in the sexual development and maturing of the lymphatic system, which starts its function in the foetus. After the puberty, this organ appears to gradually reduce its size and up to now, it was believed that it stopped working. Moreover, there is a process called immunosenescence that is the ageing of our immune system, which undergoes a loss of its capacity of response to diseases and vaccines. This phenomenon is linked to a higher number of infections in people and it is believed that it can affect the development of cancer or autoimmune diseases. An important aspect of the research led by Manuel Leal is that the thymic function in adults is very heterogeneous and is related to the ageing of the immune system.