Publications by authors named "Evandro F Fang"

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by extracellular beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and intracellular Tau tangles, leading to progressive cognitive decline and neuronal dysfunction. Impaired autophagy, a process by which a cell breaks down and destroys damaged or abnormal proteins and other substances, contributes to AD progression. This study investigated Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1 Group D Member 1 (NR1D1) as a potential therapeutic target for modulating autophagy.

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Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (oxidized form, NAD) serves as a co-substrate and co-enzyme in cells to execute its key roles in cell signalling pathways and energetic metabolism, arbitrating cell survival and death. It was discovered in 1906 by Arthur Harden and William John Young in yeast extract which could accelerate alcohol fermentation. NAD acts as an electron acceptor and cofactor throughout the processes of glycolysis, Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCA), β oxidation, and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS).

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Here, we present a NAD/NADH detection assay for evaluating NAD, NADH, and NAD/NADH ratio across diverse biological models, including Caenorhabditis elegans, mouse muscle tissue, mouse whole blood, and human whole blood. We describe steps for sample collection and preparation from different models as well as detection and calculation of NAD and NADH levels. This protocol is applicable for quantifying cellular/tissue NAD and NADH levels across different biological models.

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  • Recent advancements in aging research and drug discovery connect basic research with clinical applications, aiming to promote healthy longevity in humans.* -
  • The Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting in 2023 highlighted key areas such as AI, biomarkers, geroscience, and clinical trials focused on enhancing healthspan.* -
  • The meeting emphasized the importance of combining generative AI with innovative biological technologies to tackle age-related diseases and extend healthy lifespans.*
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Background: Sex differences in neuroinflammation could contribute to women's increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), providing rationale for exploring sex-specific AD biomarkers. In AD, dysregulation of the kynurenine pathway (KP) contributes to neuroinflammation and there is some evidence of sex differences in KP metabolism. However, the sex-specific associations between KP metabolism and biomarkers of AD and neuroinflammation need to be explored further.

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  • Spautin-1 inhibits macroautophagy by targeting specific deubiquitinases and degrading a key autophagy complex, but its role in selective autophagy, specifically mitophagy, was not well understood until recent findings.
  • The study reveals that Spautin-1 actually promotes PINK1-PRKN-dependent mitophagy in response to mitochondrial damage by stabilizing PINK1 and preventing its cleavage, thus enhancing mitophagy.
  • This discovery suggests that Spautin-1 could have therapeutic potential for neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer's disease, due to its ability to improve mitophagy and associative learning capabilities in model studies.
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  • In layer II of the entorhinal cortex, neurons that project to the hippocampal region express high levels of the glycoprotein reelin, with expression decreasing further from the rhinal fissure.
  • The study investigates the relationship between reelin expression and neuronal metabolic rate, predicting that certain promitophagic markers like Bnip3 will be upregulated in neurons expressing reelin.
  • Results confirm both predictions, indicating that neurons closer to the rhinal fissure have higher energy requirements, which correlates with their ability to encode detailed spatial and temporal information about the environment.
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  • Mitochondrial diseases cause neuronal death and depletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), with astrocytes potentially playing a damaging role in neurodegeneration.
  • Research using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from patients with POLG mutations showed that the resulting astrocytes experienced significant mitochondrial dysfunction and developed a toxic phenotype.
  • When these dysfunctioning astrocytes interacted with neurons, they induced neuronal death, highlighting a novel toxic contribution of astrocytes to the progression of POLG-related diseases.
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  • - Urolithin A (UA), a compound derived from ellagic acid, shows promise in improving cognitive functions and countering amyloid beta and tau pathologies in Alzheimer's disease (AD) models in mice.
  • - Long-term UA treatment enhances mitophagy by boosting lysosomal functions and normalizing lysosomal cathepsins, especially cathepsin Z, which is crucial for its therapeutic effects on AD.
  • - The findings underscore the significance of lysosomal dysfunction in AD and suggest UA as a potential treatment by influencing immune responses and AD-related pathways.
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  • Alpers' syndrome is a severe neurodegenerative disorder often caused by mutations in the POLG gene, leading to issues like intractable epilepsy and developmental regression, with no current effective treatments.
  • Researchers created patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from an Alpers' patient to study neural dysfunction and observed that organoids replicated key molecular changes seen in actual patient brain tissue.
  • The study found that the NAD precursor nicotinamide riboside (NR) improved mitochondrial function, suggesting it could be a potential treatment for Alpers' syndrome and other similar mitochondrial disorders.*
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Unhealthy aging poses a global challenge with profound healthcare and socioeconomic implications. Slowing down the aging process offers a promising approach to reduce the burden of a number of age-related diseases, such as dementia, and promoting healthy longevity in the old population. In response to the challenge of the aging population and with a view to the future, Norway and the United Kingdom are fostering collaborations, supported by a "Money Follows Cooperation agreement" between the 2 nations.

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Background: Metabolic dysfunction is one of the main symptoms of Werner syndrome (WS); however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report that loss of WRN accelerates adipogenesis at an early stage both in vitro (stem cells) and in vivo (zebrafish). Moreover, WRN depletion causes a transient upregulation of late-stage of adipocyte-specific genes at an early stage.

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  • Sexually active older adults (ages 60-89) are increasingly vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) due to health issues and low condom usage; a study aimed to analyze these trends globally from 1990 to 2019.
  • The research collected data on HIV and various STIs from the Global Burden of Diseases Study across 204 countries, assessing incidence rates and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) to understand the impact on older populations.
  • Findings revealed that in 2019, there were approximately 77,000 new HIV cases and over 26 million new cases of other STIs among older adults, with a slight annual decline in HIV rates, while other STIs showed stable
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Background: Supplementation of nicotinamide riboside (NR) ameliorates neuropathology in animal models of ataxia telangiectasia (A-T). In humans, short-term NR supplementation showed benefits in neurological outcome.

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the safety and benefits of long-term NR supplementation in individuals with A-T.

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As aging and tumorigenesis are tightly interconnected biological processes, targeting their common underlying driving pathways may induce dual-purpose anti-aging and anti-cancer effects. Our transcriptomic analyses of 16,740 healthy samples demonstrated tissue-specific age-associated gene expression, with most tumor suppressor genes downregulated during aging. Furthermore, a large-scale pan-cancer analysis of 11 solid tumor types (11,303 cases and 4431 control samples) revealed that many cellular processes, such as protein localization, DNA replication, DNA repair, cell cycle, and RNA metabolism, were upregulated in cancer but downregulated in healthy aging tissues, whereas pathways regulating cellular senescence were upregulated in both aging and cancer.

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  • NAD is a crucial metabolite involved in various cellular functions like metabolism, energy production, DNA repair, and inflammation, with research showing its levels decline with aging and related diseases.
  • The text outlines the discovery of NAD and how its production and consumption pathways may impact aging and neurodegenerative diseases due to imbalances.
  • Preclinical studies indicate that NAD precursors could promote healthy aging and treat conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, leading to ongoing clinical trials to explore their clinical potential and understand aging mechanisms better.
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Different dopaminergic (DA) neuronal subgroups exhibit distinct vulnerability to stress, while the underlying mechanisms are elusive. Here we report that the transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) channel is preferentially expressed in vulnerable DA neuronal subgroups, which correlates positively with aging in Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. Overexpression of human TRPM2 in the DA neurons of C.

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of various ATN (Aβ, tau, neurodegeneration) biomarkers in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and predicting cognitive decline.
  • Using data from 2,340 participants, researchers found that CSF-A (Aβ in cerebrospinal fluid), neuroimaging-T (tau neuroimaging), and neuroimaging-N (neurodegeneration neuroimaging) ranked highest for accurate diagnosis.
  • The findings reveal significant differences in how plasma, CSF, and neuroimaging biomarkers function within the ATN framework, with neuroimaging-T showing a strong correlation with cognitive performance and the fastest decline seen in CSF-N positive individuals.
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Maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis is a potential therapeutic strategy for various diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer. Selective degradation of mitochondria by autophagy (mitophagy) is a fundamental mitochondrial quality control mechanism conserved from yeast to humans. Indeed, small-molecule modulators of mitophagy are valuable pharmaceutical tools that can be used to dissect complex biological processes and turn them into potential drugs.

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Introduction: The kynurenine pathway's (KP) malfunction is closely related to Alzheimer's disease (AD), for antagonistic kynurenic acid (KA) and agonistic quinolinic acid act on the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, a possible therapeutic target in treating AD.

Methods: In our longitudinal case-control study, KP metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid were analyzed in 311 patients with AD and 105 cognitively unimpaired controls.

Results: Patients with AD exhibited higher concentrations of KA (β = 0.

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