Assessment of Somatic Mosaicism as a Biomarker of Aging
Random mutations in stem cells lead to a pattern of mutations throughout the tissue supported by those stem cells, as daughter cells are imprinted with a particular combination of mutations based on the ancestor stem cell and the timing of cell division versus timing of mutations. In principle, one can take a sample of somatic cells and reverse engineer the progression of mutations in the underlying stem cell and progenitor cell populations from the variety and combination of mutations observed in the sample. That progression can then be used as the basis for a measure of chronological or biological age, a novel form of ag...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 13, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
A High Level View of Efforts to Modulate Inflammaging and Immunosenescence of the Aged Immune System
Change and disruption in the immune system is an important component of degenerative aging. Broadly, the immune system becomes ever more inflammatory (inflammaging) while also becoming ever less effective (immunosenescence). The immune system is not only responsible for defending against invasive pathogens and destroying errant cells, but it is also tightly integrated into the normal processes of tissue maintenance and operation. When immune cells become inflammatory, they abandon the range of tasks needed to keep tissues functional. Short-term inflammation is necessary in response to injury and infection, but unresolved, ...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 11, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
CASIN Alters Epigenetic State to Produce Lasting Improvement in Aged Stem Cell Function
We report that after CASIN treatment aged MuSCs divisional kinetic and myogenic capacity in vitro are enhanced and, after injuring the muscle in vivo, tissue regeneration is improved. Supporting that the MuSC improvement after CASIN might contribute to extend mouse healthspan, CASIN mice performed better than aged control mice in endurance and strength tests in steady-state and also after damage. Moreover, we report on systemic CASIN affecting Cdc42 and tubulin polarity as well as H4K16ac epigenetic polarity in aged HSCs. The data on H4K16ac obtained by histological analyses of whole mount bone marrow sections aligns to th...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Commentary on More Drastic Scenarios of Partial Brain and Full Body Replacement
Is outright replacement of tissues a viable option for the treatment of aging? There are factions within the longevity-interested community who think that the paths to either (a) engineering replacement brain tissue for parts of the brain not involved in memory, or (b) transplantation of an old head onto a young body or brain into a young body, are short enough to be worth pursuing, where "short enough" means a few decades of work given sufficient funding. To my mind, major surgery of the sort implied by replacement of large sections of tissue or entire organs is something to be avoided in later life, given the risks and c...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Bioprinted Eye Tissue to Study Retinal Diseases
Researchers at the National Eye Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, have created a method to 3D bioprint eye tissue that forms the outer blood-retina barrier. This tissue supports the photoreceptors in the retina and is implicated in the initiation of age-related macular degeneration.
The outer blood-retina barrier is the interface of the retina and the choroid, including Bruch’s membrane and the choriocapillaris. Image credit: National Eye Institute.
The researchers combined different cell types, which are primarily derived from patient stem cells, in a hydrogel carrier that is suita...
Source: Medgadget - January 6, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Ophthalmology NatEyeInstitute NIH Source Type: blogs
A Tale of Tails: How Reptile Regeneration Could Help Humans
Dr. Thomas Lozito. Credit: Chris Shinn for USC Health Advancement Communications.
“I’ve always been interested in science and in lizards. I got my first pet lizard when I was around 4 years old, and it was love at first sight,” says Thomas Lozito, Ph.D., who now studies the creatures as an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
During his childhood, Dr. Lozito turned his parents’ house into a “little zoo” of lizards and amphibians. He sneaked lizards into his dorm room as a college student at Jo...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 4, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Cool Creatures Profiles Regeneration Research Organisms Wound Healing Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 2nd 2023
In conclusion, circulating monocytes in older adults exhibit increased expression of activation, adhesion, and migration markers, but decreased expression of co-inhibitory molecules.
MERTK Inhibition Increases Bone Density via Increased Osteoblast Activity
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2022/12/mertk-inhibition-increases-bone-density-via-increased-osteoblast-activity/
Bone density results from the balance of constant activity on the part of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the former building bone, the latter breaking it down. With advancing age, the balance of activity shifts to favor osteoclasts, pro...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 1, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Look Back at 2022: Progress Towards the Treatment of Aging as a Medical Condition
At the end of 2022, we can reflect on the fact that we are steadily entering a new era of medicine, one in which mechanisms of aging are targeted rather than ignored. It is a profound change, one that will change the shape of a human life and ultimately the human condition by eliminating the greatest sources of suffering and death in the world. Year after year, we see increased funding, ongoing progress towards therapies capable of slowing aging or reversing aspects of aging, and a growing taxonomy of such potential therapies and their target mechanisms.
The view of aging in the medical community and public at large...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 30, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Of Interest Source Type: blogs
Senescent Cells Inhibit Muscle Stem Cell Function and Regenerative Capacity
Researchers here report on evidence for senescent cells in the stem cell niches supporting muscle tissue to reduce stem cell function and the capacity for muscle regeneration. Senescent cells accumulate with age throughout the body, and their inflammatory secretions are disruptive to tissue function. The development of many varied approaches to selectively destroy these errant cells is well underway in the biotech community, with the hope that late life health will be greatly improved as a result.
Tissue regeneration requires coordination between resident stem cells and local niche cells. Here we identify that sen...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 30, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
A Conservative View of Aging Research and Development of Treatments Targeting Mechanisms of Aging
A present, the conservative scientific viewpoint on aging is that significant progress has been made in understanding how to produce therapies that might target mechanisms of aging, but these are still very early days in both (a) understanding in detail how those mechanisms give rise to the observed outcomes in aging, and (b) the development of age-slowing and rejuvenating therapies. It is most likely the case that more could be accomplished than is presently being accomplished, given greater will and funding. But the creation of a new field of medicine is a slow process, proceeding incrementally, taking years to convince ...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 27, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Progress Towards Decoupling Epigenetic Rejuvenation from Cell Identity Change in Partial Reprogramming
Reprogramming cells using the Yamanaka factors produces both a reset of epigenetic patterns to a more youthful configuration and a change in cell identify. One of the primary challenges inherent in reprogramming to achieve rejuvenation is avoidance of this altered cell identity. Reprogramming isn't an immediate switch, it is a slow process over hours to days, but a fraction of reprogrammed cells do change into induced pluripotent stem cells after some period of exposure to reprogramming factors. This is an undesirable outcome when delivering a reprogramming therapy; if new approaches can be found that do not alter cell ide...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 26, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 26th 2022
This article on senolytic therapies to selectively remove senescent cells in old tissues is in part a matter of Unity Biotechnology talking up their position. The company suffered from first mover disadvantage in bringing senolytic drugs into clinical development. The field has made progress very rapidly over the last decade, and startups founded even just a couple of years after Unity's launch benefited from greater knowledge and a selection of better technologies to work with. Still, one can be talking up one's position and also be right. The accumulation of senescent cells is profoundly harmful, a significant contributi...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 25, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Longer RNA Transcripts Exhibit Greater Alterations in Amount with Aging
We present three lines of evidence supporting the biological importance of the uncovered transcriptome imbalance. First, in vertebrates the length association primarily displays a lower relative abundance of long transcripts in aging. Second, eight antiaging interventions of the Interventions Testing Program of the National Institute on Aging can counter this length association. Third, we find that in humans and mice the genes with the longest transcripts enrich for genes reported to extend lifespan, whereas those with the shortest transcripts enrich for genes reported to shorten lifespan.
Perhaps the most pressing ...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 23, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
A Role for Raised Ceramide Levels in Sarcopenia
Researchers here provide evidence for raised levels of ceramide in muscle tissue to be an important part of the metabolic dysfunction of aging. It reduces muscle stem cell activity, contributing to the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that leads to sarcopenia and frailty. Whether working on this point of intervention, to produce improved ceramide blockers with fewer side-effects, is better or worse than other avenues is an open question. Altered metabolism is thought to be a fair way downstream from the root causes of aging, and tackling root causes should always be a better option. It is is very challenging to...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 23, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Somatic Mosaicism in the Aging Brain
Somatic mosaicism is the result of the random mutational damage that occurs to stem cells and progenitor cells, leading to a spread of different mutation patterns throughout the descendant cells making up a tissue. It is thought to be involved in aging, a way for random mutation, different in every cell, to lead to specific dysfunctions occurring throughout a tissue, and potentially prime a tissue for a later combination of mutations that gives rise to cancer. This commentary on recent research discusses somatic mosaicism in the brain, intending to see whether there were differences in neurological disease states, but the ...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 20, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
