PCC1 is a natural senolytic from grape seeds with early human and mouse data showing senescent cell clearing and healthier aging potential.
Category: life extension – Page 7
Boosting one protein helps the brain protect itself from Alzheimer’s
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a natural process in the brain that can remove existing amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease while also helping preserve memory and thinking ability. This process relies on astrocytes, star shaped support cells, which can be guided to clear out the toxic plaque buildup commonly seen in Alzheimer’s. When the team increased the amount of Sox9, a protein that influences many astrocyte functions during aging, the cells became more effective at removing amyloid deposits. The findings, reported in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that strengthening astrocyte activity could one day help slow cognitive decline linked to neurodegenerative disorders.
“Astrocytes perform diverse tasks that are essential for normal brain function, including facilitating brain communications and memory storage. As the brain ages, astrocytes show profound functional alterations; however, the role these alterations play in aging and neurodegeneration is not yet understood,” said first author Dr. Dong-Joo Choi, who conducted this work while at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor. Choi is now an assistant professor at the Center for Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology, Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Rejuvenating the blood: New pharmacological strategy targets RhoA in hematopoietic stem cells
Aging is defined as the deterioration of function over time, and it is one of the main risk factors for numerous chronic diseases. Although aging is a complex phenomenon affecting the whole organism, it is proved that the solely manifestation of aging in the hematopoietic system affects the whole organism. Last September, Dr. M. Carolina Florian and her team revealed the significance of using blood stem cells to pharmacologically target aging of the whole body, thereby suggesting rejuvenating strategies that could extend healthspan and lifespan.
Now, in a Nature Aging, they propose rejuvenating aged blood stem cells by treating them with the drug Rhosin, a small molecule that inhibits RhoA, a protein that is highly activated in aged hematopoietic stem cells. This study combined in vivo and in vitro assays at IDIBELL together with innovative machine learning techniques by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.
Biological age measured by DNA methylation clocks and frailty: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Higher GrimAge EAA is consistently associated with higher frailty. Future research should focus on developing and validating DNA methylation clocks that integrate molecular surrogates of health risk and are specifically trained to predict frailty in large, harmonised, longitudinal cohorts, enabling their translation into clinical practice.
Dr. Carina Kern — CEO, LinkGevity — Necrosis Inhibitors To Pause The Diseases Of Aging
Necrosis Inhibitors To Pause The Diseases Of Aging — Dr. Carina Kern Ph.D. — CEO, LinkGevity
Dr. Carina Kern, Ph.D. is the CEO of LinkGevity (https://www.linkgevity.com/), an AI-powered biotech company driving innovation in drug discovery for aging and resilience loss.
Dr. Kern has developed a new Blueprint Theory of Aging, which takes an integrative approach to understanding aging, combining evolutionary theory, genetics, molecular mechanisms and medicine, and is used to structure LinkGevity’s AI.
Dr. Kern’s labs are based at the Babraham Research Campus, affiliated with the University of Cambridge and her research has led to the development of a first-in-class necrosis inhibitor targeting cellular degeneration (Anti-Necrotic™). This novel therapeutic is ready to begin Phase II clinical trials later this year, as a potential breakthrough treatment for aging, with UK Government, Francis Crick Institute KQ labs, and European Union (Horizon) support.
The Anti-Necrotic™ has also been selected as one of only 12 global innovations for NASA’s Space-Health program, recognizing its potential to mitigate accelerated aging in astronauts on long-duration space missions.
Vegetarian diet and healthy aging among Chinese older adults: a prospective study
From the article:
Following a vegetarian diet can be a boon for your health, even possibly cutting your risk of certain chronic illnesses, according to the Mayo Clinic. Yet a recent study, conducted by nutrition experts and published in the Nature journal npj Aging, suggests that not everyone will experience the same benefits when they cut out meat entirely. Adults over the age of 60 may have different nutritional needs, meaning a more diverse diet could instead help them live longer… Utilizing data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, the study reviewed information from nearly 2,900 Chinese older adults who were considered to be healthy. Participants’ diets were categorized four ways:
- vegan (avoiding any animal products, including eggs, seafood, or dairy) — ovo-vegetarian (vegetarian plus the inclusion of eggs) — pesco-vegetarian (vegetarian plus the inclusion of fish and seafood) — omnivorous (eating both plant-and animal-based products)
After an average follow-up period of six years, “Individuals who maintained omnivorous diets from age 60 years had higher odds of achieving healthy aging” versus those who “consistently” followed vegetarian eating patterns. When the team further analyzed the health data of those who survived to age 80, omnivorous eaters were more likely than vegetarians to avoid major chronic disease, physical function impairment, and cognitive impairment.
“Given age-related physiological changes in digestive and metabolic systems” in aging adults, the study specifically flagged the potential for muscle loss and bone fracture for those adhering to vegetarian diets. Another interesting discovery: older adults following a vegan diet were “most strongly associated with adverse effects on healthy aging,” which the text attributes to an increased risk of protein deficiency.”
npj Aging — Vegetarian diet and healthy aging among Chinese older adults: a prospective study. npj Aging 11, 25 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00213-4
Over a decade in the making: Lanthanide nanocrystals illuminate new possibilities
In a discovery shaped by more than a decade of steady, incremental effort rather than a dramatic breakthrough, scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and their collaborators demonstrated that great ideas flourish when paired with patience.
Flashback to 2011: a small group of young researchers gathered around an aging optical bench at the NUS Department of Chemistry, watching a faint, flickering glow on a screen. Their goal seemed deceptively simple: make an insulating crystal emit light when electricity flowed through it. The challenge, however, was nearly impossible.
Lanthanide nanocrystals, known for their chemical stability and pinpoint color purity, were insulators, notoriously resistant to electrical excitation.
DNA Methylation Signatures of Systemic Inflammation Are Associated With Brain Volume, Cognitive Trajectories, and Long‐Term Dementia Risk
Despite known links between inflammation and pathological aging outcomes, studies have found inconsistent associations between peripheral levels of inflammatory proteins, including CRP and GDF15, and markers of brain health and neurodegenerative disease (Dik et al. 2005 ; Ravaglia et al. 2007 ; Stevenson et al. 2020 ; Yang et al. 2015). A driver of these inconsistencies may be natural inter-and intra-day fluctuations and variability in plasma protein levels as well as potential measurement error (Conole et al. 2021 ; Moldoveanu et al. 2000 ; Stevenson et al. 2021). Moreover, many health conditions, as well as physical and psychological stressors, can cause transient changes in inflammatory proteins that may further contribute to variability in inflammatory protein abundance. A consequence of this variability is a difficulty in accurately estimating an individual’s long-term exposure to inflammatory stimuli, i.e., chronic inflammation. Alternatively, chronic inflammation can be measured by quantifying epigenetic signatures (DNA-methylation [DNAm]), which may act as determinants of inflammatory gene transcription (Gadd et al. 2022, 2024 ; Stevenson et al. 2021). Because DNAm, though modifiable, is more stable and less sensitive to inter-and intra-day fluctuations than circulating protein levels and is trained on the inputs of protein-DNAm associations from a large (13,399) number of individuals (Lu et al. 2022 ; Stevenson et al. 2020), blood-based DNAm scores can be derived to estimate one’s long-term exposure to a given protein.
Previously, DNAm measures of GDF15 and CRP have been used as a component of composite variables (e.g., GrimAge version 2) to capture the immunologic contributions to accelerated biological aging, morbidity, and mortality. DNAm CRP has been associated with adverse neurocognitive outcomes (Conole et al. 2021 ; Smith et al. 2024). Specifically, Conole and colleagues found that DNAm CRP was significantly associated with cross-sectional brain atrophy, white matter microstructure, and cognitive performance, and that epigenetic CRP measures were more strongly associated with measures of brain structure than were circulating CRP protein levels. Similarly, Smith et al. (2024) found that elevated DNAm CRP was cross-sectionally associated with lower MRI-defined brain volume, as well as greater dementia risk over a 16-year follow-up period (Smith et al. 2024). Although higher levels of GDF15 protein have also been linked to poor brain health and dementia risk (Isik et al. 2024 ; Walker et al. 2024 ; Walker, Chen, et al. 2023), less is known about the extent to which an epigenetic indicator of long-term GDF15 exposure (DNAm GDF15) relates to adverse neurocognitive outcomes (Gadd et al. 2024).
The current study examined DNAm measures of CRP and GDF15—two inflammatory proteins with distinct immunologic significance—and extended previous cross-sectional findings using longitudinal MRI imaging and cognitive data in a large cohort of Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) adults. We conducted a proteome-wide analysis to identify functional pathways associated with blood DNAm CRP and DNAm GDF15 scores and examined how each of these putative markers of chronic inflammation was associated with longitudinal measures of brain structure as well as cognitive function among older adults. Additionally, we compared the performance of the CRP and GDF15 DNAm scores to that of their plasma protein counterparts and determined whether the DNAm associations extended to near-and long-term dementia risk in two independent cohort studies.