A Stem Cell Secretome Treatment Improves Measures of Health in Old Mice
In this study, we tested a stem cell secretome product, which contains extracellular vesicles and growth factors, cytoskeletal remodeling factors, and immunomodulatory factors. We examined the effects of 4 weeks of 2×/week unilateral intramuscular secretome injections (quadriceps) in ambulatory aged male C57BL/6 mice (22-24 months) compared to saline-injected aged-matched controls. Secretome delivery substantially increased whole-body lean mass and decreased fat mass, corresponding to higher myofiber cross-sectional area and smaller adipocyte size, respectively. Secretome-treated mice also had greater whole-bod...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 1, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Interview with Stefany Shaheen: Revolutionizing diabetes care through cell therapies
I had the extraordinary opportunity to chat with Stefany Shaheen, the Chief Strategy Officer of Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) and BioFab USA, about the transformative potential of cell therapies for individuals living with diabetes. Stefany shared her remarkable journey, insights on cell therapies’ current status, approval challenges, and how the diabetes community can contribute to advancing research in this field. A few months before this discussion with Stefany, I had the opportunity to hear Dean Kamen speak at the recent ...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - April 1, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 1st 2024
This study supports the proposed model that aging-related loss of colonic crypt epithelial cell AMP gene expression can promote increased relative abundances of Gn inflammaging-associated bacteria and gene expression markers of colonic inflammaging. These data may support new targets for aging-related therapies based on intestinal genes and microbiomes. « Back to Top A Skeptical View of the Role of Nuclear DNA Damage in Aging https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2024/03/a-skeptical-view-of-the-role-of-nuclear-dna-damage-in-aging/ It is evident and settled that stochastic nuclear DNA damag...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 31, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

A Skeptical View of the Role of Nuclear DNA Damage in Aging
It is evident and settled that stochastic nuclear DNA damage contributes to cancer. The more of it that you have, the worse your risk. What is still very much debated is whether nuclear DNA damage contributes meaningfully to degenerative aging, and how it does so. Most mutational damage to DNA occurs in regions that are inactive, in cells that have comparatively few divisions remaining before reaching the Hayflick limit. Even if damage alters the function of such a cell, in some non-cancerous way, it is unclear as to how this could amount to a meaningful contribution to loss of tissue function. The one school of tho...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 28, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Lipid Droplets in Microglia Involved in Alzheimer's Pathology
Microglia are innate immune cells resident in the central nervous system. Microglial dysfunction is clearly a contributing factor in the onset and progression of age-related neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, as well as the accompanying chronic inflammation of brain tissue. As to why microglia become problematic and inflammatory, there are any number of possible contributing mechanisms to consider. Cellular senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, reactions to cell debris or the presence of persistent viral infections, and more. In this vein, researchers here discuss excessive lipid accumulation in ...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 27, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Predicting the Order of Arrival of the First Rejuvenation Therapies
It has been going on eight years since I last speculated on the order of arrival of the first rejuvenation therapies. Tempus fugit, and time for an updated version! Eight years is a long enough span of time for the first of those rejuvenation therapies to now exist, albeit in a prototypical form, arguably proven in principle but not concretely. The world progresses but my biases remain much the same: the first rejuvenation therapies to work well enough to merit the name will be based on the SENS vision, that aging is at root caused by a few classes of accumulated cell and tissue damage, and biotechnologies that either repa...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 25, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 25th 2024
This study also reports the expansion of satellite cells in human muscle with CR. This finding is critical to suggest translational relevance to the rodent data observed for more than a decade. Moreover, the increased expression of the plasminogen receptor Plg-RKT observed on human satellite cells during CR provided additional support for the theory that our rodent model is relevant to human biology. « Back to Top Interesting Insight into the Relationship Between TP53, Telomerase, and Telomere Length https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2024/03/interesting-insight-into-the-relationship-between-t...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 24, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Human Exosomes Harvested from Stem Cells in Urine Produce Rejuvenation in Mice
In this study, we further analyzed these data and found that a class of USC-EVs-enriched proteins have been previously shown to possess anti-aging function, such as tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP1), plasminogen activator urokinase (PLAU), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5, senescence marker protein-30, and connective tissue growth factor. Thus, we hypothesized that USC-EVs might be capable of rejuvenating old organs from aging via transferring of anti-aging proteins. Here, we tested the effects of USC-EVs on cellular senescence in vitro and on the aging-related phenotypes in different orga...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 22, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Improving Stem Cell Therapies that Promote Blood Vessel Generation in Ischemic Tissue
Stem cell therapies are one of the approaches to treating progressive loss of blood flow to tissues, such as results from severe atherosclerosis, in which important blood vessels are narrowed or even blocked. Unfortunately first generation stem cell therapies are variable in outcome, cellular senescence in cell cultures prior to transplantation is poorly controlled, and the transplanted cells die quite quickly. Thus even though the benefits of treatment arise from signaling generated by transplanted cells, rather than cell integrating into tissues, there is much that can be improved. One of the ways in which researchers ar...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 20, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Interesting Insight into the Relationship Between TP53, Telomerase, and Telomere Length
This study provides some insight into how these relationships play out in practice by sabotaging telomerase and p53, and observing the results. Telomerase activity is restricted in humans and telomere attrition occurs in several tissues accompanying natural aging. Critically short telomeres trigger DNA damage responses and activate p53 which leads to apoptosis or replicative senescence. These processes reduce cell proliferation and disrupt tissue homeostasis, thus contributing to systemic aging. Similarly, zebrafish have restricted telomerase expression, and telomeres shorten to critical length during their lifesp...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 18, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Calorie Restriction Induces Plasminogen Production to Protect Muscle Tissue
This study also reports the expansion of satellite cells in human muscle with CR. This finding is critical to suggest translational relevance to the rodent data observed for more than a decade. Moreover, the increased expression of the plasminogen receptor Plg-RKT observed on human satellite cells during CR provided additional support for the theory that our rodent model is relevant to human biology. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113881 (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - March 18, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Lowered Iron Levels in Hematopoietic Stem Cells Reverse Some Age-Related Dysfunction
Researchers here report on a way to reverse some of the age-related dysfunction observed in the hematopoietic stem cell population resident in bone marrow. These cells are responsible for generating red blood cells and immune cells. Some fraction of the age-related decline in immune function derives from issues in the hematopoietic cell populations originating with hematopoietic stem cells. It seems that hematopoietic stem cells have a distinct iron metabolism, and iron accumulation produces dysregulation in these cells. Reducing the presence of iron in hematopoietic stem cells reverses some of these changes. In the bigger...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 15, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Efforts to Produce Drugs to Slow or Reverse Sarcopenia Benefit from the Semaglutide Hype
This popular science article is a reminder that all too little in this world happens for entirely rational reasons. Drugs aimed at slowing or reversing the age-related loss of muscle mass leading to sarcopenia are presently under development by a number of companies, though none of the candidates discussed are producing effect sizes that look very favorable in comparison to the effects of resistance exercise. These efforts will likely benefit from the present manufactured hype that attends the use of antidiabetic GLP1 receptor agonists for weight loss, as one of the side-effects of this drug is modest loss of muscle mass. ...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 15, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Reviewing the Path Towards Reprogramming as a Basis for Rejuvenation Therapies
In conclusion, while partial reprogramming holds great therapeutic potential, the real focus should be on rejuvenation research, defining its nature and ways to quantify it. Another critical issue is the ability to quantify biological age as reprogrammed older cells acquire younger states. Understanding rejuvenation is also key to translational success, as benefits of age reversal must be considered against risks. More research into safety and tissue-specific responses of this technique are required. (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - March 14, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

SOX17 Allows Early Stage Colon Cancer to Evade the Immune System
Researchers here report on work that identifies SOX17 inhibition as a potential way to attack colon cancer in its early stages. Any successful cancer must have adopted one or more ways to suppress the immune system in order to grow past the earliest stages of a few cancerous cells. Interfering in those suppression mechanisms is a potential basis for therapy, as the researchers demonstrated here. Whether or not this line of work will make much further depends on whether an economically viable approach to SOX17 inhibition can be found, and whether or not it is a good target for many other forms of cancer. Colon canc...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 14, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs