人类早衰症的发病机制及干预方法

衰老是一种在细胞和组织水平逐渐发生功能衰退的过程.早衰症是一类罕见的人类遗传性疾病,以加速衰老为特征.对早衰症的研究有助于理解人类衰老的生理过程,对衰老相关疾病的防治具有借鉴意义.成人早衰症和儿童早衰症是两种著名的人类早衰症,本文将综述这两种早衰症的发病机制及干预方法.     

《科学》:研究揭示人类干细胞衰老机理

<正>中科院生物物理研究所刘光慧实验室与国内外科学家合作,利用多能干细胞定向分化技术、基因组靶向编辑技术以及表观遗传组分析技术,首次揭示了异染色质的高级结构失序是人类干细胞衰老的驱动力之一,为延缓衰老及研究和防治衰老相关疾病提供了新的潜在靶点和思路。相关成果日前发表于《科学》杂志。人类衰老的过程漫长且复杂,其转化医学研究一直面临着巨大的挑战。成年早衰症是一种罕见的常染色体隐性遗传病,是由WRN基因(编     

脑衰老机制与脑疾病的关系

衰老是人类生命过程的必然规律,是不可抗拒的自然现象.神经系统是重要的机能调节系统,也是受衰老影响最大的系统之一,衰老的脑组织会产生一些特征性的改变,了解这些改变及其分子机制对衰老的研究具有重要意义.本文就近年来脑与衰老的研究进行综述,以进一步探讨脑衰老和脑衰老相关疾病的机制.     

免疫衰老及免疫细胞在衰老中的作用

人类的衰老是一个复杂的生理过程,是机体随着年龄增长出现生理结构的退行性改变以及机能衰退,表现出机体适应性和抵抗力减退的过程。免疫系统是衰老过程的主要调节系统,免疫衰老会导致机体对病原体和癌细胞的抵抗能力降低,同时伴随相关疾病的发生,如心血管疾病、神经系统疾病及癌症等。本文主要综述了免疫衰老以及免疫细胞在衰老中作用的研究进展,旨在阐明免疫衰老与衰老相关疾病的关系及免疫细胞的抗衰老机制,为精准免疫细胞抗衰老模式提供临床应用的新策略。     

编者按: 衰老: 老问题，新挑战

衰老是一个古老神秘的科学问题,长生不老是人们从古至今的梦想和追求.在人们为温饱而奋斗的时代,对大多数人来说衰老还算不上他们生活中的重要问题,随着现代社会经济和技术的快速发展,人们在追求和享受着各种优越生活与娱乐的同时,健康也成为当下重要的社会问题和人们追求、关注的生活目标.很多严重威胁人类健康的疾病,如糖尿病、心血管疾病、神经退行性疾病、癌症、代谢性疾病等,均与衰老过程密切相关,衰老是导致这些疾病最重要的危险因素之一.因此,衰老以     

衰老:老问题,新挑战

<正>衰老是一个古老神秘的科学问题,长生不老是人们从古至今的梦想和追求.在人们为温饱而奋斗的时代,对大多数人来说衰老还算不上他们生活中的重要问题,随着现代社会经济和技术的快速发展,人们在追求和享受着各种优越生活与娱乐的同时,健康也成为当下重要的社会问题和人们追求、关注的生活目标.很多严重威胁人类健康的疾病,如糖尿病、心血管疾病、神经退行性疾病、癌症、代谢性疾病等,均与衰老过程密切相关,衰老是导致这些疾病最重要的危险因素之一.因此,衰老以     

Cell:新型激素asprosin如何发挥潜在的疾病疗效

正新生儿型早衰症(NPS,Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome)是一种罕见的遗传性障碍,患者机体中会不断积累脂肪,截至目前为止科学家们并不清楚这种疾病发生的原因;近日一项刊登于国际杂志Cell上的研究论文中,来自贝勒医学院的研究者就揭示了该疾病发生的重大机制,相关研究为改善新生儿型早衰症及2型糖尿病患者的健康将带来重大影响。     

酵母细胞自然衰老分子作用机理的研究进展

衰老是任何生物都无法避免的生理现象,它由多种因素引起,其过程极其复杂.酵母细胞是目前衰老研究领域公认的模式生物,一系列影响衰老的分子作用机理及调控因素的发现均源自于对酵母细胞的研究.自然衰老是酵母细胞的衰老模式之一,由于该衰老过程与其他高等真核细胞(特别是哺乳动物细胞)极为相似,近年来受到广泛关注.全面比较酵母细胞衰老的两种模式,详细介绍自然衰老过程中分子作用机理的研究进展,重点阐述其复杂的自然寿命调控通路,包括卡路里限制以及药物添加对Ras/PKA、Sch9、Tor等营养依赖型调控通路的影响,并展望未来该领域需要解决的重要科学问题,为全面深入了解高等生物,特别是人类自身的衰老机理提供参考.     

衰老对2种猕猴血液基因表达的影响及与人类的对比

衰老是导致免疫功能和代谢活动下降的危险因素.作为最常用的非人灵长类动物模型,猕猴属Macaca被用来探索与衰老过程相关的因素.为了比较2种猕猴和人类在衰老过程基因表达变化的异同,本研究收集比较了3个物种的血液转录组.在藏酋猴M.thibetana(TM)、普通猕猴M.mulatta(CR)和人类中分别获得了2523个、...     

肠道微生物与慢性病

肠道微生物在长期进化过程中与人类形成了共生关系,对人类的生理代谢、生长发育、免疫应答和对疾病的抵抗力、衰老等,都起着不可忽视的作用,它们影响着每个人的健康.最新的研究进展表明,结构异常的肠道菌群很可能是肥胖、高血压、糖尿病等慢性病的直接诱因.     

Differential stem cell aging kinetics in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome and Werner syndrome

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and Werner syndrome (WS) are two of the best characterized human progeroid syndromes. HGPS is caused by a point mutation in lamin A (LMNA) gene, resulting in the production of a truncated protein product—progerin. WS is caused by mutations in WRN gene, encoding a loss-of-function RecQ DNA helicase. Here, by gene editing we created isogenic human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) with heterozygous (G608G/+) or homozygous (G608G/G608G) LMNAmutation and biallelic WRN knockout, for modeling HGPS and WS pathogenesis, respectively. While ESCs and endothelial cells (ECs) did not present any features of premature senescence, HGPS- and WS-mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) showed aging-associated phenotypes with different kinetics. WS-MSCs had early-onset mild premature aging phenotypes while HGPS-MSCs exhibited late-onset acute premature aging characterisitcs. Taken together, our study compares and contrasts the distinct pathologies underpinning the two premature aging disorders, and provides reliable stem-cell based models to identify new therapeutic strategies for pathological and physiological aging.     

Genetic modulation of senescent phenotypes in Homo sapiens

Single-gene mutations can produce human progeroid syndromes--phenotypes that mimic usual or "normative" aging. These can be divided into two classes--those that have their impacts upon multiple organs and tissues (segmental progeroid syndromes) and those that have their major impacts upon a single organ or tissue (unimodal progeroid syndromes). The prototypic example of the former is the Werner syndrome, a condition caused by mutations of the RecQ family of DNA helicases. Research on the Werner syndrome and a surprising number of other progeroid syndromes support the importance of the maintenance of genomic stability as a partial antidote to aging. The prototypic examples of the latter are Alzheimer type dementias. The three gene products that cause rare autosomal-dominant early-onset varieties of these disorders all participate in the modulation of the beta amyloid precursor protein. They thus support the importance of the maintenance of proper protein processing and folding as a partial antidote to aging.     

Patients with myotonic dystrophy,a possible segmental progeroid syndrome,and duchenne muscular dystrophy have fibroblasts with normal limits for in vitro lifespan and growth characteristics

Myotonic dystrophy (MyD) has been suggested to be a segmental progeroid syndrome in man, as this syndrome has some clinical manifestations of premature aging. Fibroblasts from patients with other progeroid syndromes have been shown to have diminished in vitro lifespans or growth characteristics; therefore, it was of interest to study cellular senescence in fibroblasts from patients with MyD. Fibroblast cultures from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) were used as additional controls, as premature aging is not associated with this genetic disorder. Primary skin fibroblast cultures obtained from patients with MyD or DMD and from age-sex matched controls were grown in DMEM plus 10% FBS. The in vitro lifespan was determined by either a 1:4 split ratio or with a constant initial inoculum of 1 × 10⁴ cells/cm², followed by determination of the final density at weekly intervals. Our results demonstrate that there is no difference in the limits of the in vitro lifespan for either the MyD or DMD fibroblast strains compared to the controls. Likewise, no difference could be detected in the growth characteristics of these cells. The only observable difference was that the pooled age-matched controls and MyD cultures had a shorter in vitro lifespan than the DMD group and their pooled controls, a finding expected because of the age of the patients in each group. Unlike the other progeroid syndromes, MyD fibroblasts have normal limits for in vitro lifespan. MyD is probably not closely related to the other premature aging syndromes, although there is an increasing phenotypic expression as a function of age.     

Autophagy and aging: new lessons from progeroid mice

It is widely-assumed that the autophagic activity of living cells decreases with age and probably contributes to the accumulation of damaged macromolecules and organelles during aging. Over the last few years, the study of segmental progeroid syndromes in which certain aspects of aging are manifested precociously or in exacerbated form, has increased our knowledge of the molecular basis of aging. We have recently reported the unexpected finding that distinct progeroid murine models exhibit an extensive basal activation of autophagy instead of the characteristic decline in this process occurring during normal aging. Further studies on Zmpste24-null progeroid mice, which are a reliable model of human Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, have revealed that the observed autophagic increase is associated with a series of metabolic alterations resembling those occurring under calorie restriction or in other situations reported to prolong lifespan. Here, we analyze these unexpected findings and discuss their possible implications for the development of premature aging.     

The secretome atlas of two mouse models of progeria

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disease caused by nuclear envelope alterations that lead to accelerated aging and premature death. Several studies have linked health and longevity to cell-extrinsic mechanisms, highlighting the relevance of circulating factors in the aging process as well as in age-related diseases. We performed a global plasma proteomic analysis in two preclinical progeroid models (Lmna^G609G/G609G and Zmpste24^−/− mice) using aptamer-based proteomic technology. Pathways related to the extracellular matrix, growth factor response and calcium ion binding were among the most enriched in the proteomic signature of progeroid samples compared to controls. Despite the global downregulation trend found in the plasma proteome of progeroid mice, several proteins associated with cardiovascular disease, the main cause of death in HGPS, were upregulated. We also developed a chronological age predictor using plasma proteome data from a cohort of healthy mice (aged 1–30 months), that reported an age acceleration when applied to progeroid mice, indicating that these mice exhibit an “old” plasma proteomic signature. Furthermore, when compared to naturally-aged mice, a great proportion of differentially expressed circulating proteins in progeroid mice were specific to premature aging, highlighting secretome-associated differences between physiological and accelerated aging. This is the first large-scale profiling of the plasma proteome in progeroid mice, which provides an extensive list of candidate circulating plasma proteins as potential biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets for further exploration and hypothesis generation in the context of both physiological and premature aging.     

Werner and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndromes: mechanistic basis of human progeroid diseases

Progeroid syndromes have been the focus of intense research in part because they might provide a window into the pathology of normal ageing. Werner syndrome and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome are two of the best characterized human progeroid diseases. Mutated genes that are associated with these syndromes have been identified, mouse models of disease have been developed, and molecular studies have implicated decreased cell proliferation and altered DNA-damage responses as common causal mechanisms in the pathogenesis of both diseases.     

Elevation of urinary hyaluronic acid in Werner's syndrome and progeria

Werner's syndrome and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (progeria) are human genetic diseases which may serve as models for the study of premature aging. The basic defects underlying these diseases are unknown. An abnormally high level of urinary hyaluronic acid (HA) excretion has been previously reported in several Werner's and one progeria subject, all from Japan. To determine if a high HA level is a reliable marker for these diseases, we quantitated the urinary excretion of HA in three progeria subjects, one subject with an atypical progeroid syndrome, and a Werner's syndrome subject. Compared to controls, the total urinary HA was found to be markedly increased in the three progeria samples and in the Werner's syndrome sample. These findings support the previous observations indicating elevated HA may be a specific marker for these diseases.