Restoration of Autophagy as a Goal in the Treatment of Aging

The processes of autophagy act to remove damaged molecular machinery and structures in the cell. Autophagy becomes dysfunctional with age, however. This is likely downstream of underlying causes of aging that cause changes in gene expression that degrade the function of autophagic processes in one way or another. For example mitophagy, the clearance of damaged mitochondria by autophagy, is indirectly negatively impacted by changes in mitochondrial dynamics resulting from altered gene expression. Equally, age-related changes in gene expression produce defects in the formation of autophagosomes, and this affects all aspects of autophagy. Many of the known interventions that slow aging in animal models appear to improve the efficiency of autophagy, and functional autophagy is required for the extension of healthy life span via calorie restriction to take place. While improvement of autophagy has been a goal in the research community for quite some time, surprisingly little concrete progress has been made towards the development of therapies that specifically target dysfunction in autophagic processes. Calorie restriction mimetics such as mTOR inhibitors improve autophagy, and mitochondrially targeted antioxidants and NAD+ upregulation may act to restore mitophagy. These were not designed with the enhancement of autophagy in mind; rather, it has been found to be one of their outcomes. The research and development communities have yet to see success in the developmen...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs