Is Displaced Nuclear DNA a Meaningful Cause of Chronic Inflammation in Aging?

Sterile inflammation arises without external cause, such as infection or injury, and chronic sterile inflammation is a characteristic of aging. Inflammatory signaling becomes constant and pronounced in tissues, and the immune system is constantly roused to action. Processes, such as regeneration from injury, that depend upon a clear cycle of inflammation that starts, progresses, and resolves are significantly disrupted. It is no exaggeration to say that the downstream consequences of chronic inflammation accelerate the progression of all of the common age-related conditions. It is of great importance in atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative conditions, for example. Like raised blood pressure, chronic inflammation is one of the more important mechanisms acting to convert the low-level molecular damage at the root of aging into the various proximate causes of age-related disease and mortality. Thus the research community is greatly interested in understanding how and why sterile inflammation arises in later life. Cellular senescence is one sizable area of investigation, as senescent cells accumulate with age, and secrete inflammatory signals. Additionally, visceral fat tissue acts to increase the pace at which senescent cells arise, but also contributes to inflammation via other mechanisms. In the short open access commentary here, the authors discuss a potential mechanism whereby cells in aged tissues start to eject DNA fragments from the cell nucleus, and this can caus...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs