Blocking IL-1 Signaling Improves Hematopoietic Function in Old Mice

Inflammatory signaling is made up of a broad range of different molecules, some of which are better studied than others. Chronic, unresolved inflammation increases with age and is disruptive to tissue structure and function. The research community spends more time investigating ways to interfere in this signaling (such as the TNF inhibitors used to treat autoimmune conditions) than it does in search of ways to prevent chronic inflammation from occurring in the first place (such as senolytic therapies to remove senescent cells and their pro-inflammatory secretions). This is unfortunate, as suppression of specific inflammatory signals affects both excess, unwanted inflammation and necessary, useful inflammation. The result may be a net improvement, considering the alternative of no treatment, but it is certainly the case that immune function is degraded in ways that negatively affect long-term health. The aging of the immune system into a state of chronic inflammation is a feedback loop in which inflammation produces further disruption of immune function by affecting processes and organs involved in the creation of immune cells. Atrophy of the thymus is accelerated by chronic inflammation, and so is the decline and altered function of hematopoietic stem cell populations in the bone marrow. Hematopoietic cell populations reside in niche structures, and these niches suffer as chronic inflammation ramps up with age. In today's open access paper, researchers quantify the con...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs