Aging & Longevity

Bowhead whales have the longest lifespan of all vertebrates, living over 200 years. The mechanisms responsible for their lifespan are mostly unknown. In a recent study in Nature, Firsanov et al.¹ reveal that bowhead whales have evolved more efficient DNA-repair mechanisms.

Cellular senescence and brain atrophy are both associated with brain aging, suggesting these processes may share underlying biological mechanisms. This study investigated these mechanisms by integrating structural neuroimaging with gene and protein expression data from prefrontal cortex tissue collected from individuals who underwent neurosurgery. Cell-type-specific gene expression signatures associated with neuroimaging features and cellular senescence were identified and replicated in several...

We performed Visium spatial transcriptomics (ST) and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) on a cohort of nonpathological human tissues to uncover signatures of aging and senescence in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). In doing so, we identified gene expression changes characteristic of aged cortical layers. The cellular composition of the dlPFC also changed with age, with increased homeostatic astrocyte abundance and with decreased somatostatin (SST) inhibitory neurons. Nuclei...

Cellular senescence, a stress-induced program causing stable cell-cycle arrest, is a hallmark of liver aging, fibrosis, and cancer. However, the cell-type-specific mechanisms, spatial organization, and cancer-associated alterations in the liver remain unclear. We profiled 43 normal human livers spanning ages and fibrosis stages using a single-cell multiome, Xenium spatial transcriptomics, and CODEX, complemented by fibrotic mouse models and 24 colorectal cancer liver metastases. We found CDKN1A+...

Differential gene expression (DGE) analysis is a crucial step in identifying senescent cells using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. However, few studies have evaluated the performance of DGE methods-particularly those implemented in the widely used Seurat package. In this study, we systematically assessed 10 DGE methods available in Seurat-Wilcox, Wilcox-limma, bimod, roc, t, negbinom, Poisson, LR, MAST, and DESeq2-using simulated and real scRNA-seq datasets. We evaluated each...

Biological age, as opposed to chronological age, quantifies the body's functional state and rate of aging. Despite the absence of a universal formula for its determination, panels of biomarkers that change consistently with age are used to construct predictive aging clocks. These models enable the identification of accelerated aging and are valuable as surrogate endpoints in clinical trials. The proliferation of published aging clocks has created a challenge: data is fragmented across numerous...

Eccrine sweat glands (ESGs) are critical organs for human thermoregulation, yet their function progressively declines with aging. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the age-related impairment of ESG function. Through comparative analysis between skin tissues from young and aged mice/human, we observed structural loosening of aged ESG and a significant reduction in the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components-type I and type II collagen. Further...

High-fat diet (HFD) intake is a potent inducer of oxidative stress, promoting metabolic dysfunction and accelerated ageing. Identifying interventions capable of mitigating this persistent redox burden is therefore essential. This study investigated the combined efficacy of α-lipoic acid (LA) supplementation and a daily climbing regimen in counteracting HFD-induced oxidative stress across different life stages and mating statuses in Drosophila melanogaster. Flies were maintained on an HFD and...

Aging leads to a progressive decline in overall bladder function resulting in lower urinary tract symptoms and increased susceptibility to infections. However, tissue-specific mechanisms of aging, specifically the contributions of the urothelium, remain elusive. Here, we introduce mouse bladder epithelium-derived organoids (mBEDOs) as a scalable platform to model urothelial aging. mBEDOs from aged mice recapitulate key features of age-associated cellular reprogramming, including oxidative...

The variability in cognitive and brain ageing trajectories may be influenced by inter-individual and community-level differences in resilience that result from differential exposures to social and structural determinants of health and be affected by an individual's sex and gender. However, no clear guidance exists on how to best integrate these diversity-related factors (that is, sex, gender and social and structural determinants of health) into clinical and cognitive neuroscience research on...

BACKGROUND: Social frailty and reduced functional ability are major challenges among older adults in urban slums, yet the mechanisms linking these factors remain poorly understood. Social capital may buffer the effects of social frailty, but evidence is limited in urban slums context. The protocol study hypothesized that higher social capital is associated with lower social frailty and better functional ability among older adults.

Current evidence suggests that the rejuvenating effects of parabiosis on brain function arise from the exchange of blood factors that enhance synaptic plasticity, promote neurogenesis, and reduce neuroinflammation in aged animals. However, aging is also associated with diminished tissue oxygenation. Here, we report that erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBCs) from aged mice exhibit reduced responsiveness to low oxygen tension (PO(2)) and release O(2) slower than those from young mice. In vivo,...

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of aging and a key contributor to age-related diseases including cardiovascular disease. However, molecular pathways that safeguard mitochondrial homeostasis in the aging heart remain poorly understood. Here, we identify MTFR1L as a regulator of mitophagy that binds p-S65-Ub, a key signal amplifying the PINK1/Parkin axis. We find that MTFR1L is enriched in metabolically active tissues, particularly in the heart, where it regulates Parkin signaling. Genetic...

Aging, a complex physiological and molecular process, has undergone significant changes, of which gut microbiome composition has surfaced as an important key in the maintenance of neurological health. Recent studies have revealed the significant impact of age-related gut dysbiosis in the induction of neuroinflammation, metabolic syndrome, disruptions in gut-brain axis, and age-related neurological decline. Although significant studies have revealed the impact of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in...

The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) plays a pivotal role in executive functions and exhibits a hierarchical rostro-caudal organization critical for higher-order cognition. Using connectome gradient mapping of resting-state fMRI data across young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 478), we found preserved global gradient structure but significant compression of the principal gradient in older adults relative to middle-aged adults, particularly in dorsolateral (DLPFC) and frontopolar (FPC)...

CONCLUSION: Among older adults living in the community, higher openness and conscientiousness were protective against future LTC needs. These findings highlight the potential role of psychological traits in promoting autonomy and healthy aging.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) combined with endocrine therapy are the standard first-line treatment for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer, but resistance inevitably develops. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the efficacy of CDK4/6i remains uncertain. Our study shows that the selective CDK2 inhibitor BLU-222, while effective alone, enhances synergistic activity when combined with CDK4/6i in resistant HR+/HER2- and TNBC models,...

Oscillations between lipid anabolism and catabolism are essential for maintaining cellular health during metabolic fluctuations. Fasting, a conserved determinant of aging, improves disease outcomes and extends lifespan, yet the relative contributions of lipid catabolism versus its attenuation to fasting-induced longevity remain unresolved. The metabolic flexibility of C. elegans under variable nutrient availability provides a powerful system to address this question. We show that lifespan...

Age is a major risk factor for lung disease. We characterized the changing cellular, transcriptional, and genomic landscape of human lung aging using single-cell RNA sequencing. We find that lung aging is cell-type dyssynchronous, with alveolar epithelial and endothelial cells exhibiting the greatest transcriptional changes. Among alveolar epithelial cells, aging is associated with a decreased relative proportion of surfactant-expressing SPC^(high) AT2 cells. Among alveolar capillary cells, we...

Several methylation-based surrogate markers of C-reactive protein (mCRP) have been proposed and used to assess the risk of age-related phenotypes and construct novel ageing markers. We aimed to (i) assess the variance in plasma CRP explained by several mCRP markers; (ii) compare their associations with three health-related traits: mortality, body mass index (BMI), and PCGrimAge; and (iii) assess the stability of CRP and mCRP over a decade. Blood samples were collected from 947 participants in...