How astronauts’ immune systems are compromised when in space: white blood cells’ ability to fight infection drops sharply, study finds
- Astronauts in microgravity undergo genetic changes to their white blood cells that affect their bodies’ ability to fight off infection, a new study has shown
- Scientists knew about the effect – which happens soon after leaving Earth, and ceases a month after returning – but not the mechanism
Evidence is growing about the many ways that travelling in the microgravity environment of space tampers with the human body, with new research showing how it dials down the activity of genes in white blood cells crucial to the immune system.
A study involving 14 astronauts who spent 4½ to 6½ months aboard the International Space Station found that gene expression in these cells, also called leukocytes, quickly decreased when they reached space and then returned to normal not long after returning to Earth, researchers said on June 22.
“A weaker immunity increases the risk of infectious diseases limiting astronauts’ ability to perform their very demanding work in space,” said molecular biologist Odette Laneuville of the University of Ottawa in Canada, lead author of the research published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
“If an infection or an immune-related condition was to evolve to a severe state requiring medical care, astronauts while in space would have limited access to care and medication.”