Aging Skin as a Significant Source of Systemic Chronic Inflammation

Researchers here propose that the skin is a significant source of the systemic chronic inflammation that is observed in older individuals. Setting aside the range of other mechanisms that contribute to inflammation to only consider the accumulation of senescent cells with age, and the fact that these errant cells are a potent source of inflammatory signaling, this proposition doesn't seem unreasonable. The skin is a sizable organ, after all, and even if it produces senescent cells at much the same pace as the rest of the body, it will still represent a large and quite distributed pool of such cells, positioned to delivery their inflammatory signals throughout the body. Increasing evidence points to a provocative role of sustained, sub-clinical inflammation, often termed "inflammaging," in the development of these chronic disorders. In support of this notion, chronologically aged humans (≥50 years) display elevated circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, particularly IL-6, IL-1β, and TNFα. Moreover, subjects with chronic cutaneous inflammatory diseases, such as psoriasis and eczematous dermatitis, also display an increased prevalence of aging-associated disorders, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Though anti-inflammatory regimens, such as inhibitors of IL-1βα and TNFα, as well as methotrexate, have been deployed in the management of these aging-associated disorders, the outcomes of treatments with these a...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs