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Nanomedicine Guiding Mitochondrial Function in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases: Mechanisms, Latest Developments, and Clinical Translation
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and ageing is their strongest biological risk factor. In the ageing cardiovascular system, mitochondrial dysfunction is not only a central driver of disease progression but also a key feature of cardiovascular ageing, linking oxidative stress, calcium dysregulation, bioenergetic failure, impaired mitochondrial dynamics, defective mitophagy, and chronic inflammation to myocardial and vascular decline. In...
Age-Associated Regulation of Chondrocyte Hypertrophy in Osteoarthritis: Mechanisms, Therapeutic Implications, and Cartilage Fate Reprogramming
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent age-associated joint disease marked by progressive cartilage loss, subchondral bone remodeling, osteophyte formation, and low-grade inflammation. In OA, articular chondrocytes shift from a stable extracellular matrix (ECM)-maintaining state toward a hypertrophy-like program with increased collagen type X alpha 1 chain (COL10A1), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), and matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13), promoting ECM degradation, calcification, and...
Unlocking the Gut-Brain-Heart Axis: Mechanistic Insights and Therapeutic Avenues for Sleep and Cardiovascular Comorbidity
Sleep disorders and cardiovascular diseases are pressing global health concerns, whose prevalence and comorbidity significantly increase with age. The mechanistic underpinnings of this bidirectional relationship remain elusive. This review posits the Gut-Brain-Heart Axis (GBHA) as a critical integrative network bridging this clinical gap, particularly in the context of ageing. We synthesize compelling evidence that sleep disturbances induce gut dysbiosis, compromise intestinal barrier...
Chemical anchoring of immunotherapeutic drugs within senescent tumor cells overcomes senescence-driven immunotherapy resistance
Multidrug resistance (MDR) compromises cancer treatment efficacy and leads to therapeutic failure. Therapy-induced senescence further complicates MDR through senescence-enhanced drug efflux and senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASPs), remaining a huge challenge. Here, we develop a self-generative senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal)-initiated chemical anchoring of lysosomal protein approach to counteract drug efflux and reprogram SASPs. A senescence-tumor-targeted...
High-Throughput Screening for Ageing and Age-Related Disease Drug Discovery: Advances and Challenges
Ageing is the primary risk factor for many chronic, degenerative, and life-threatening disorders, yet the translational pipeline for geroprotective interventions remains comparatively sparse. Short‑lived, experimentally tractable models with conserved ageing pathways, particularly Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), have expanded discovery beyond traditionally mammalian-centric pipelines. By leveraging advances in...
The impact of ageing on faecal short chain fatty acids levels in apparently healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Ageing is accompanied by physiological and lifestyle changes that may influence gut microbial metabolism. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including acetate, propionate, and butyrate, are microbial metabolites derived from dietary fibre fermentation and play important roles in host metabolic and immune function. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined age-related differences in faecal SCFA concentrations among apparently healthy adults. Following PRISMA guidelines, searches across five...
ProtFI, an efficient frailty-trained proteomics-based biomarker of aging, robustly predicts age-related decline
Many molecular aging biomarkers have been developed to capture heterogeneity in individual aging rates. Yet, systematic comparison of the modeling choices underlying these biomarkers has been limited. In this study, we trained aging biomarkers on the Rockwood frailty index (FI) and all-cause mortality using UK Biobank Olink proteomics and metabolomics (¹H-NMR) data (n = 40,696). We systematically established the impact of model choice, target outcome, and molecular data source on several...
Activation of neurogenesis improves amyloid-beta pathology and cognitive function through AMP kinase signaling in Alzheimer's disease model mice
Adult hippocampal neurogenesis declines with aging and in neurological disorders, leading to cognitive impairment. We previously showed that inducing Plagl2 and antagonizing Dyrk1a (iPaD) rejuvenates aged neural stem cells (NSCs), enhancing neurogenesis and cognition in aged mice. Here, we found that NSC-specific iPaD treatment activates neurogenesis, reduces amyloid-β deposition, and improves cognition in Alzheimer's disease model mice. Transcriptomic analysis revealed widespread changes in...
Experimental and computational methods for allelic imbalance analysis from single-nucleus RNA-seq data
Combining allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis with single-cell RNA-seq can elucidate how genomic variation affects RNA expression at the single-cell level. We explore how experimental and computational choices impact the power of ASE-based methods and develop a suite of single-cell ASE computational tools. With single-nucleus RNA-Seq, we extract more ASE information from reads in intronic than exonic regions. We show how read length can increase power and that hybrid selection improves...
Exploratory research on cognitive fluency design for the older adults through Nostalgia-based empowerment
No abstract
Grip strength modifies the association between blood-based alzheimer's biomarkers and cognitive function
Blood-based biomarkers are increasingly used to characterize Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology, yet substantial heterogeneity exists in how biomarker burden relates to cognitive performance. Grip strength, a marker of frailty and functional reserve, may modify this relationship. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 348 participants from the Aging Adult Brain Connectome (AABC) study. Global cognition was assessed using the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (PACC). Plasma...
Genome-wide association study and pathway analysis of healthy aging in Super Seniors
Healthy aging is a complex process influenced by genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Although prior genetic studies have identified loci associated with longevity, replication has often been limited by strong non-genetic influences. To investigate the genetic contributors to healthy aging, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and pathway analyses in 597 Super Seniors-individuals aged ≥ 85 years with no history of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, or...
Activation of neurogenesis improves amyloid-β pathology and cognitive function through AMP kinase signaling in Alzheimer's disease model mice
Adult hippocampal neurogenesis declines with aging and in neurological disorders, leading to cognitive impairment. We previously showed that inducing Plagl2 and antagonizing Dyrk1a (iPaD) rejuvenates aged neural stem cells (NSCs), enhancing neurogenesis and cognition in aged mice. Here, we found that NSC-specific iPaD treatment activates neurogenesis, reduces amyloid-β deposition, and improves cognition in Alzheimer's disease model mice. Transcriptomic analysis revealed widespread changes in...
Cross-sectional and prospective associations between jump performance and functional outcomes in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No abstract
Blockage of autophagy causes severe skeletal muscle disruption in a mouse model for myofibrillar myopathy 6
Myofibrillar myopathy 6 is a rare, autosomal-dominant neuromuscular disorder caused by an amino acid exchange Pro209Leu in the co-chaperone BAG3, which disrupts muscle protein turnover and causes severe muscle weakness and shortened lifespan. We generated transgenic mice overexpressing the human mutant BAG3^(P209L)-GFP, which rapidly develop skeletal muscle weakness unlike controls expressing BAG3^(WT)-GFP. Here we show that mutant mice exhibit sarcomere breakdown, inflammation, protein...
STUB1-VCP/p97 limits PINK1 overaccumulation to safeguard mitophagy and memory
PINK1 serves as the central regulator of PINK1-PRKN-mediated mitophagy, and its precise regulation is critical for efficient mitochondrial clearance. Although the cleavage of PINK1 and its subsequent degradation via the N-end rule pathway under basal conditions are well understood, how full-length PINK1 stability is regulated following mitochondrial damage has remained elusive. In our recent study, we identified the STUB1-VCP/p97 axis as a mechanism that fine-tunes full-length PINK1 levels...
A galaxy seems to host two giant black holes, poised to collide in a century
Unusual radio signals could be long-sought smoking gun of galactic mergers
Astrocytic calcium-dependent enzyme PAD2 governs microglia activity to exacerbate amyloid pathology via citrullinated vimentin
Glial crosstalk surrounding amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques establishes a self-propagating inflammatory niche fueling Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet the molecular triggers remain incompletely defined. We found that the calcium-dependent enzyme peptidyl-arginine deiminase 2 (PAD2) was selectively upregulated in plaque-associated astrocytes in human AD cortex and multiple APP AD transgenic mouse models. Astrocyte-specific deletion of Padi2 in 5×FAD mice rescued learning and memory, lowered Aβ load,...
Mechanistic Research and Therapeutic Prospects of Alternative Splicing in Neurodegenerative Diseases
One essential post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism that increases protein diversity in eukaryotes is alternative splicing. This process is crucial for maintaining nervous system function and is highly active in neurons. Dysregulation of alternative splicing is a common pathogenic factor in many neurodegenerative diseases. For example, splicing variants of tau protein and amyloid precursor protein are implicated in Alzheimer's disease; aberrant splicing of α-synuclein (SNCA) and upregulation...
Targeting gut pathology is effective in an Alzheimer disease model
No abstract