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Scientists may need to rethink which genes control aging

To better understand the role of bacteria in health and disease, National Institutes of Health researchers fed fruit flies antibiotics and monitored the lifetime activity of hundreds of genes that scientists have traditionally thought control aging. To their surprise, the antibiotics not only extended the lives of the flies but also dramatically changed the activity of many of these genes. Their results suggested that only about 30% of the genes traditionally associated with aging set an animal’s internal clock while the rest reflect the body’s response to bacteria.

“For decades scientists have been developing a hit list of common aging . These genes are thought to control the aging process throughout the , from worms to mice to humans,” said Edward Giniger, Ph.D., senior investigator, at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the senior author of the study published in iScience. “We were shocked to find that only about 30% of these genes may be directly involved in the aging process. We hope that these results will help medical researchers better understand the forces that underlie several age-related disorders.”

The results happened by accident. Dr. Giniger’s team studies the genetics of aging in a type of fruit fly called Drosophila. Previously, the team showed how a hyperactive immune system may play a critical role in the neural damage that underlies several aging brain disorders. However, that study did not examine the role that bacteria may have in this process.

Inflammatory Proteins May Slow Cognitive Decline in Aging Adults

These results suggest that IL-12 and IFN-γ could one day be measured along with other biomarkers to predict future brain health in cognitively normal people–a tool that doesn’t yet exist in medicine.


Summary: Higher levels of two cytokines were associated with slower cognitive decline in aging adults, a new study reports.

Source: Mass General

Research has previously linked inflammation to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS) have made a surprising discovery about that relationship.

In a new study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, they report that elevated levels of two chemical mediators of inflammation, known as cytokines, are associated with slower cognitive decline in aging adults.

Anti-aging Protein in Blood Cells Helps Slow Cognitive Decline

An aging/longevity link, (not sure how novel)


As life expectancies around the world increase, so are the number of people who will experience age-related cognitive decline. The amount of oxygen in the blood declines with age. Aging in the brain might be naturally held at bay by adenosine receptor A2B (ADORA2B), a protein on the membrane of red blood cells which is known to help release oxygen from the blood cells so it can be used by the body.

Aging in the brain is naturally reduced by ADORA2B, which helps get oxygen to the brain when needed. Further testing will be needed to determine whether ADORA2B levels naturally decline with age and whether treatment with drugs that activate ADORA2B can reduce cognitive decline in normal mice.

Scientists Develop New Gene Therapy Strategy to Delay Aging and Extend Lifespan

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Cellular senescence, a state of permanent growth arrest, has emerged as a hallmark and fundamental driver of organismal aging. It is regulated by both genetic and epigenetic factors. Despite a few previously reported aging-associated genes, the identity and roles of additional genes involved in the regulation of human cellular aging remain to be elucidated. Yet, there is a lack of systematic investigation on the intervention of these genes to treat aging and aging-related diseases.

How many aging-promoting genes are there in the human genome? What are the molecular mechanisms by which these genes regulate aging? Can gene therapy alleviate individual aging? Recently, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shed new light on the regulation of aging.

Recently, researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Peking University, and Beijing Institute of Genomics of CAS have collaborated to identify new human senescence-promoting genes by using a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening system and provide a new therapeutic approach for treating aging and aging-related pathologies.

Asymmetrex Publishes the First Report of Immortal DNA Strands in Human Stem Cells

BOSTON (PRWEB) November 18, 2020

What does it mean for multiplying cells in the body to be immortal? The cell DNA is being replicated over and over again while being divided equally between new cells produced by cell divisions. All the new cell components produced by the DNA code are mixing with the old cell components and being divided between the new cells. So, every cell is a new cell. There is nothing really immortal about any of them. Right?

Not quite. Stem cells responsible for renewing other mature body cells are different. For a long time, tissue cell scientists had a somewhat nebulous idea that stem cells had a special longevity in organs and tissues – that they were immortal cells, lasting for as long as the human lifespan. However, no one had a molecular concept for this idea of stem cell immortality until John Cairns, a pioneer of DNA replication, started thinking about DNA mutations and cancer in the 1970’s.

NASA inches closer to printing artificial organs in space

In America, at least 17 people a day die waiting for an organ transplant. But instead of waiting for a donor to die, what if we could someday grow our own organs?

Last week, six years after NASA announced its Vascular Tissue Challenge, a competition designed to accelerate research that could someday lead to artificial organs, the agency named two winning teams. The challenge required teams to create thick, vascularized human organ tissue that could survive for 30 days.

The two teams, named Winston and WFIRM, both from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, used different 3D-printing techniques to create lab-grown liver tissue that would satisfy all of NASA’s requirements and maintain their function.

“We did take two different approaches because when you look at tissues and vascularity, you look at the body doing two main things,” says Anthony Atala, team leader for WFIRM and director of the institute.

The two approaches differ in the way vascularization—how blood vessels form inside the body—is achieved. One used tubular structures and the other spongy tissue structures to help deliver cell nutrients and remove waste. According to Atala, the challenge represented a hallmark for bioengineering because the liver, the largest internal organ in the body, is one of the most complex tissues to replicate due to the high number of functions it performs.


Researchers used 3D-printing to create human liver tissue that could soon be tested on the International Space Station.

Insulin Sensitivity Is A Hallmark Of Longevity

HOMA calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/homa-ir.

Papers referenced in the video:
Growth hormone-releasing hormone disruption extends lifespan and regulates response to caloric restriction in mice.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24175087/

Glucose regulation and oxidative stress in healthy centenarians.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12543271/

Distribution of blood glucose and prevalence of diabetes among centenarians and oldest-old in China: based on the China Hainan Centenarian Cohort Study and China Hainan Oldest-old Cohort Study.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32643047/

Prevalence and Ethnic Pattern of Diabetes and Prediabetesin China in 2013
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28655017/

Families enriched for exceptional longevity also have increased health-span: findings from the long life family study.

Experts predict that well be able to live up to 20% longer over the next 100 years. Heres how humans are trying to live forever

Experts predict that we’ll be able to live up to 20% longer over the next 100 years. Here’s how humans are trying to live forever. Andrea Schmitz and Benji Jones Apr 3, 2019, 12:00 PM @ These potential treatments for aging could unlock cures to a range of age-related illnesses, from cancer to heart disease – Charlotte Hu Aug 20, 2018, 1:21 PM @ Animals that defy the rules of aging — like naked mole rats — could help scientists unravel the secrets to longevity – Charlotte Hu Aug 15, 2018, 2:54 PM @ Everything you thought you knew about aging is wrong – Erin Brodwin Apr 27, 2016, 12:13 PM *© 2021 Insider Inc. @ Other very important information, images, YouTube Videos (Ray Kurzweil – Physical Immortality – 3 de jan. de 2017 & Ray Kurzweil + Disruptive Technologies and Dangerous Ideas – 5 de dez. de 2017), websites, social networks and links.

Felix Werth: The rejuvenation field in the ballot in Germany

Hello everybody! In this episode, we interview Felix Werth, a trully hero of the rejuvenation field: in 2015 he created a party in Germany to defend more investments in our field, and his party is contesting the general elections in the country on September 26th 2021! However, he needs our help right now, since his party has until July 19th to collect enough signatures to participate in 14 German states covering 98% of the country’s population. So be sure to check the interview and the party’s website (https://parteifuergesundheitsforschung.de) to see how you can help.


In this episode of ImmortaliCast, Nicolas and Nina talk to Felix Werth, the founder and leader of the German Party for Health Research, a party with a single issue: 10% of the government budget should be spent on research for the development of treatments of age-related diseases. The party will contest the German general elections of September 26th 2021.

Party for Health Research website: https://parteifuergesundheitsforschung.de.

Fundraising page: https://parteifuergesundheitsforschung.de/superwahljahr-spendenaktion.

ImmortaliCast website: https://www.ntzplural.com/immortalicast.

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