Aging & Longevity News and Discussions

[raklian]

Very interesting.

[raklian]

[raklian]

Peter Diamandis laying out the conditions to win the $101 million:

[raklian]

[raklian]

Paper - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41684-023-01286-y

Abstract

The exponential scientific and technological progress during the past 30 years has favored the comprehensive characterization of aging processes with their multivariate nature, leading to the advent of Big Data in preclinical aging research. Spanning from molecular omics to organism-level deep phenotyping, Big Data demands large computational resources for storage and analysis, as well as new analytical tools and conceptual frameworks to gain novel insights leading to discovery. Systems biology has emerged as a paradigm that utilizes Big Data to gain insightful information enabling a better understanding of living organisms, visualized as multilayered networks of interacting molecules, cells, tissues and organs at different spatiotemporal scales. In this framework, where aging, health and disease represent emergent states from an evolving dynamic complex system, context given by, for example, strain, sex and feeding times, becomes paramount for defining the biological trajectory of an organism. Using bioinformatics and artificial intelligence, the systems biology approach is leading to remarkable advances in our understanding of the underlying mechanism of aging biology and assisting in creative experimental study designs in animal models. Future in-depth knowledge acquisition will depend on the ability to fully integrate information from different spatiotemporal scales in organisms, which will probably require the adoption of theories and methods from the field of complex systems. Here we review state-of-the-art approaches in preclinical research, with a focus on rodent models, that are leading to conceptual and/or technical advances in leveraging Big Data to understand basic aging biology and its full translational potential.

[caltrek]

New Aging Clock May Reveal Which Organs Are Aging Faster Than Others
by Miriam Fazia
December 6, 2023

Introduction:

(Inverse) In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the titular character (played by Brad Pitt) lives a life in reverse. He’s born an old man and grows younger as he ages, eventually dying a newborn infant. The film explores the constant shift of identity through the passage of time, but it also unexpectedly mirrors a scientific reality: Parts of our bodies aren’t all aging at the same pace.

According to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, some of your organs are aging faster than others. Examining blood samples from over 5,600 adults, the researchers used machine learning to identify proteins produced by specific organs that are associated with aging. They estimate that nearly 20 percent of the population — or one in five healthy adults — has at least one organ aging at a fast clip, which may increase a person’s risk of death or it may suggest disease is brewing in that organ. While aging is inevitable, this finding may pave the way for a simple blood test to catch the first wrinklings and prevent disease before it strikes.

ORGAN AGE GAP

There have been a lot of studies on mice that looked into how aging happens at the molecular level in different organs. These studies found that each organ ages in its own unique way and at its own pace. Also, depending on the organ — like the brain, heart, or kidneys — there's a big difference in how likely they are to develop age-related diseases.

Whether this rings true for human organs at the molecular level is still an area of active research. Scientists have come up with different ways of measuring biomarkers corresponding to age. However, most of these methods look at an “individuals’ biological age — the age implied by a sophisticated array of biomarkers — as opposed to their chronical age, the actual numbers of years that have passed since their birth,” Tony Wyss-Coray, a professor of neurology at Stanford University and the study’s lead researcher, said in a press release. Additionally, methods that do look at specific organs only tell us how well they function, not so much specific details on aging.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/health/aging-c ... g-fastest

caltrek’s comment: If I am reading the rest of the article correctly, the rate of aging for different organs varies according to the person. This opens the possibility of a comprehensive test that would give an assessment to individual patients. This assessment would identify weaknesses and tell such patients what organs they should concentrate upon in terms of preventative measures.

[raklian]

[raklian]

The Information Theory of Aging by Dr. David Sinclair is officially published in Nature Aging.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00527-6

Abstract

Information storage and retrieval is essential for all life. In biology, information is primarily stored in two distinct ways: the genome, comprising nucleic acids, acts as a foundational blueprint and the epigenome, consisting of chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins, regulates gene expression patterns and endows cells with specific identities and functions. Unlike the stable, digital nature of genetic information, epigenetic information is stored in a digital–analog format, susceptible to alterations induced by diverse environmental signals and cellular damage. The Information Theory of Aging (ITOA) states that the aging process is driven by the progressive loss of youthful epigenetic information, the retrieval of which via epigenetic reprogramming can improve the function of damaged and aged tissues by catalyzing age reversal.

Read this excellent thread by Dr. David Sinclair explaining the concept underpinning this theory:

[raklian]

Very nice!

[raklian]

Biotech co-founded by Alex Aravanis and Feng Zhang targets epigenetic code to reprogram cells to a healthy state
By Danny Sullivan on January 4, 2024

Genomic medicine company Moonwalk Biosciences has emerged from stealth with $57 million in a combined seed and Series A financing to advance the development of precision epigenetic medicines. Co-founded by former Illumina CTO Dr Alex Aravanis and MIT and Harvard scientist Dr Feng Zhang, the company aims to reprogram cells to their healthy state, using “read-and-write” technologies to develop potentially curative therapies for diseases at the root cause level.

Moonwalk is targeting the epigenetic code – the “software of the genome” – the chemical changes that happen to our genes over time, but without fundamentally changing the DNA sequence itself. Changes to the epigenome are caused by our behavior and environment, and can affect the way our genes work.

When it comes to the company’s potential in targeting diseases of aging specifically, Aravanis told us that epigenetic alterations are “a hallmark of aging that strongly correlate with decline in cell function.”

“There is increasing evidence that these alterations are causally related to loss of function,” he said. “Moonwalk’s epigenome engineering platform can identify these epigenetics changes with unprecedented resolution, predict which targets may be causally related to the loss of function, and then reverse their methylation state, testing them as candidates to restore cell function.”

https://longevity.technology/news/moonw ... -platform/

[raklian]

[caltrek]

Time Change for Biological Aging Clocks: How Immune Cells Shape Our Body's True Age
January 8, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) LEBANON, NH—When asked, “How old are you?” Most people measure by how many birthdays they’ve had. But scientists have developed epigenetic clocks to measure how 'old' your body really is. At the forefront of aging research, these clocks go beyond our calendar age to try and reveal our biological age—a true marker of how healthy we are. However, scientists don't fully understand how they work. As a recent NYT article pointed out, it's a bit like having a sophisticated gadget without a manual. Our bodies' internal workings, especially our immune system, play a huge role, but the details are still unclear.

New research by Dartmouth Cancer Center scientists has taken the first step to change that. The team, led by Ze Zhang, PhD, Lucas Salas, MD, MPH, PhD, and Brock Christensen, PhD, is diving deep into the immune system to learn how different immune cells affect epigenetic clocks* (see also definition of epigenetic below), to make them more accurate and reliable.

In their study, “Deciphering the role of immune cell composition in epigenetic age acceleration: Insights from cell-type deconvolution applied to human blood epigenetic clocks,” newly published in Aging Cell, the team determined how our body's biological age is related to our immune system. Using novel tools they recently developed for immune profiling, they were able to more closely examine how immune cell profiles relate with biological age estimates from epigenetic clocks. In particular, the balance between naïve and memory immune cells seems to accelerate or slow down biological aging. Key innovations of the study include:

• Enabling the calculation of Intrinsic Epigenetic Age Acceleration (IEAA) with unprecedented immune cell granularity, allowing for a much more detailed understanding of the aging process at a cellular level.

• Offering a more direct comparison between immune cells and aging than the traditional Extrinsic Epigenetic Age Acceleration (EEAA) method, which only considers a limited range of immune cells.

• Adding a new layer of understanding to the biological interpretation of epigenetic clocks, by mapping out how various immune cell subsets contribute to epigenetic aging and providing insights that previous research has missed.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1030582

*caltrek’s comment: I had forgotten the definition of “epigenetics.” It is “the study of changes in gene activity that occur without altering the underlying DNA sequence. It's like a layer of instructions that sits on top of your genetic code and influence how genes are turned on or off.”

[raklian]

[caltrek]

Eating More of This Type of Protein Could Help You Age Better
Miriam Fauzia
January 17, 2024

Introduction:

(Inverse) We’ve got two weeks left of Veganuary — the month-long challenge to temporarily give up meat and meat products — and if you haven’t started yet, there’s no better time than the present. Your future self’s healthy body will most definitely thank you, or so says science.

According to a study published Wednesday in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Tufts and Harvard University found eating a diet heavy on plant-based proteins and light on animal ones contributed to healthy aging, particularly among those assigned female at birth. This finding was based on data analyzed from the Nurses’ Health Study, a prospective cohort study of over 120,000 registered nurses whose lifestyle and health data were collected since 1976.

“Consuming protein in midlife was linked to promoting good health in older adulthood,” Andres Ardisson Korat, the study’s lead author and a research scientist at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, said in a press release. “We also found that the source of protein matters. Getting the majority of your protein from plant sources at midlife, plus a small amount of animal protein, seems to be conducive to good health and good survival to older ages.”

MORE PLANTS EQUALS BETTER HEALTH

There’s been a lot of hype — not unwarranted — behind plant-based diets. Studies upon studies find that eating more fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and seeds can slash one’s risk for and even reverse the damage wrought by chronic maladies like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain types of cancer.

The new study adds to this growing body of research but specifically investigates how dietary protein from plants may relate to healthy aging, which, as the researchers write in their paper, hasn’t been explored nearly as much.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/health/age-hea ... utrition

[wjfox]

At 93, he’s as fit as a 40-year-old. His body offers lessons on aging.

The human body maintains the ability to adapt to exercise at any age, showing that it’s never too late to start a fitness program

January 16, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EST

For lessons on how to age well, we could do worse than turn to Richard Morgan.

At 93, the Irishman is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing, with the aerobic engine of a healthy 30- or 40-year-old and the body-fat percentage of a whippet. He’s also the subject of a new case study, published last month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, that looked at his training, diet and physiology.

Its results suggest that, in many ways, he’s an exemplar of fit, healthy aging — a nonagenarian with the heart, muscles and lungs of someone less than half his age. But in other ways, he’s ordinary: a onetime baker and battery maker with creaky knees who didn’t take up regular exercise until he was in his 70s and who still trains mostly in his backyard shed.

Even though his fitness routine began later in life, he has now rowed the equivalent of almost 10 times around the globe and has won four world championships. So what, the researchers wondered, did his late-life exercise do for his aging body?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness ... rd-morgan/



Credit: Row2k.com

[weatheriscool]

Reprogrammed T cells make mice (and maybe us) age slower
By Paul McClure
January 24, 2024

https://newatlas.com/medical/reprogramm ... s-in-mice/
Researchers have used reprogrammed CAR T cells, usually used as a cancer treatment, to target the senescent cells that contribute to aging and later-life diseases. After one treatment, old mice showed improved metabolism and exercise tolerance, while young ones aged slower and were protected from age-related diseases like obesity and diabetes for life.

T cells fulfill crucial roles in the body’s immune system. They can act as ‘killer’ cells, attacking cells infected with a virus or other pathogen, or as ‘helper’ cells, supporting B cells in producing antibodies. They can also be engineered to fight cancer. In CAR T-cell therapy, a patient’s own T cells are modified in the lab to produce surface proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that recognize and bind to specific antigens on the surface of cancer cells, which they then destroy.

In a new study, researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), New York, discovered that these CAR T cells can be reprogrammed to target senescent cells, thought to be involved in aging and many of the diseases encountered in later life.

[raklian]

Read this thread by David Sinclair as he explains the implications from a different study.

[erowind]

Something I’ve thought about is that simply removing senescent cells won’t be enough. It will probably double or even triple our lifespans but eventually all the cells in our bodies will become dysfunctional and removal won’t work anymore. We have to actually rejuvenate cell division proper too. Does anyone know if there are any teams working on this?

[raklian]

Something I’ve thought about is that simply removing senescent cells won’t be enough. It will probably double or even triple our lifespans but eventually all the cells in our bodies will become dysfunctional and removal won’t work anymore. We have to actually rejuvenate cell division proper too. Does anyone know if there are any teams working on this?

Have you seen the living Rejuvenation Roadmap by Lifespan.io? The link is provided below. It gets regular updates regarding the status of the most promising rejuvenation therapies and technologies in development. As for your area of concern, I would look under the Stem Cell Exhaustion umbrella or "hallmark of aging," or perhaps Epigenetic Alteration, Telomere Attrition, or even Genomic Instability.

https://www.lifespan.io/road-maps/the-r ... n-roadmap/

[weatheriscool]

1,000 American dogs required for life extension drug trial
By Paul McClure
February 04, 2024

An 11-year-old Whippet called Boo is the first dog enrolled in a study to trial a drug designed to extend the healthy lifespan of senior dogs of almost all sizes. On the back of excitement generated by the drug’s predecessor, which was made for large-breed dogs, the researchers are calling on owners of older dogs across the US to enroll in the study.

Big dogs like Great Danes and Newfoundlands may only live seven to eight years, compared with the average lifespan of little ones like Chihuahuas and Miniature Poodles, who can live up to 20 years. Selectively breeding large- and giant-breed dogs has led to them having levels of IGF-1, a hormone that drives cell growth and is part of the longevity pathway in animals and humans, up to 28 times higher than that of small dogs. Administered by vets every three-to-six months, LOY-001 inhibits IGF-1 overexpression and extends a large dog’s healthy lifespan.

https://newatlas.com/pets/life-extendin ... ticipants/