Aging is marked by a progressive decrease in physiological function and reserve capacity, which results in increased susceptibility to diseases. Understanding the mechanisms of driving aging is crucial for extending health span and promoting human longevity. Hypoxia, marked by reduced oxygen availability, has emerged as a promising area of study within aging research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality, yet clinically effective therapies for ALD remain lacking. Here, we demonstrate that alcohol intake and its metabolite, acetaldehyde (ACH), induce senescence in the liver and liver cells, respectively. To assess the therapeutic potential of targeting liver senescence in ALD, we treated ALD-affected mice with the senolytic compound ABT263 and the senomorphic NAD precursor, nicotinamide (NAM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccumulation of senescent cells (SnCs) plays a causative role in many age-related diseases and has also been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Senolytics that can selectively kill SnCs have the potential to be developed as therapeutics for these diseases. Here we report the finding that 753b, a dual BCL-xL/BCL-2 proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC), acts as a potent and liver-tropic senolytic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Treating Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remains challenging owing to its relentless progression, grim prognosis, and the scarcity of effective treatment options. Emerging evidence strongly supports the critical role of accelerated senescence in alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) in driving the progression of IPF. Consequently, targeting senescent AECs emerges as a promising therapeutic strategy for IPF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a prevalent and profoundly debilitating complication that afflicts individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). These ulcers are associated with substantial morbidity, recurrence rates, disability, and mortality, imposing substantial economic, psychological, and medical burdens. Timely detection and intervention can mitigate the morbidity and disparities linked to DFU.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDomestic dogs have great potential to expand our understanding of the determinants of aging. To understand the aging pattern of domestic dogs and evaluate whether they can be used as an aging model, we performed RNA sequencing on white blood cells from domestic dogs aged 1-9 years and treated aged dogs with classical antiaging approaches. We obtained 30 RNA sequencing libraries and identified 61 age-associated genes with dynamic changes, the majority of which were related to metabolism and immune function, which may be predominant biomarkers for aging in dogs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioorg Med Chem Lett
January 2024
Selective removal of senescent cells (SnCs) offers a promising therapeutic strategy to treat chronic and age-related diseases. Our prior investigations led to the discovery of piperlongumine (PL) and its derivatives as senolytic agents. In this study, our medicinal chemistry campaign on both the α,β-unsaturated δ-valerolactam ring and the phenyl ring of PL culminated in the identification of compound 24, which exhibited an impressive 50-fold enhancement in senolytic activity against senescent WI-38 fibroblasts compared to PL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAll linear chromosomal ends have specific DNA-protein complexes called telomeres. Telomeres serve as a "molecular clock" to estimate the potential length of cell replication. Shortening of telomere length (TL) is associated with cellular senescence, aging, and various age-related diseases in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSenescent cells (SnCs) are implicated in aging and various age-related pathologies. Targeting SnCs can treat age-related diseases and extend health span. However, precisely tracking and visualizing of SnCs is still challenging, especially in in vivo environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelanoma is a malignant skin tumor that originates from melanocytes. The pathogenesis of melanoma involves a complex interaction that occurs between environmental factors, ultraviolet (UV)-light damage, and genetic alterations. UV light is the primary driver of the skin aging process and development of melanoma, which can induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and the presence of DNA damage in the cells, and results in cell senescence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging is characterized by persistent low-grade systematic inflammation, which is largely responsible for the occurrence of various age-associated diseases. We and others have previously reported that long-lived people (such as centenarians) can delay the onset of or even escape certain major age-related diseases. Here, by screening blood transcriptome and inflammatory profiles, we found that long-lived individuals had a relatively lower inflammation level (IL6, TNFα), accompanied by up-regulation of activating transcription factor 7 (ATF7).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Struct Biotechnol J
August 2022
Cellular senescence is a dynamic process driven by epigenetic and genetic changes. Although some transcriptomic signatures of senescent cells have been discovered, how these senescence-related signals change over time remains largely unclear. Here, we profiled the transcriptome dynamics of human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells in successive stages of growth from proliferation to senescence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep RNA sequencing of 164 blood samples collected from long-lived families was performed to investigate the expression patterns of circular RNAs (circRNAs). Unlike that observed in previous studies, circRNA expression in long-lived elderly individuals (98.3 ± 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdaptation to reduced energy production during aging is a fundamental issue for maintaining healthspan or prolonging life span. Currently, however, the underlying mechanism in long-lived people remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed transcriptomes of 185 long-lived individuals (LLIs) and 86 spouses of their children from two independent Chinese longevity cohorts and found that the ribosome pathway was significantly down-regulated in LLIs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmunotherapy has revolutionized the established therapeutics against tumors. As the major immunotherapy approach, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) achieved remarkable success in the treatment of malignancies. However, the clinical gains are far from universal and durable, because of the primary and secondary resistance of tumors to the therapy, or side effects induced by ICIs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cell Dev Biol
February 2022
Cellular senescence is a process that leads to a state of irreversible cell growth arrest induced by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic stresses. Senescent cells (SnCs) accumulate with age and have been implicated in various age-related diseases in part via expressing the senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Elimination of SnCs has the potential to delay aging, treat age-related diseases and extend healthspan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTelomere is a unique DNA-protein complex which covers the ends of chromosomes to avoid end fusion and maintain the stability and integrity of chromosomes. Telomere length (TL) shortening has been linked to aging and various age-related diseases in humans. Here we recruited a total of 1031 Chinese individuals aged between 12 and 111 years, including 108 families with parents and their offspring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging is associated with an increased susceptibility to adverse inflammatory conditions such as sepsis and cytokine storm. We hypothesized that senescent cells (SnCs) play a central role in this age-associated pathology in part due to their expression of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which may prime SnCs to inflammatory stimulation. To test this hypothesis, we examined the expression of various inflammatory cytokines and chemokines at the levels of gene transcription and protein production in various SnCs in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), interleukin-1β (IL1β), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSenescent cells (SCs) accumulate with age and cause various age-related diseases. Clearance of SCs by transgenic or pharmaceutical strategies has been demonstrated to delay aging, treat age-related diseases and extend healthspan. SCs are resistant to various stressors because they are protected from apoptosis by SC anti-apoptotic pathways (SCAPs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Cancer Drug Targets
January 2022
Background: Malignant melanoma (MM) is an aggressive type of skin cancer with a poor prognosis, because MM cells are characterized by unresponsiveness to chemotherapy.
Objective: In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of several curcumin analogs on four MM cell lines (SK-MEL-28, MeWo, A-375, and CHL-1) and explored their underlying mechanisms of action.
Methods: Cell viability was measured by a Tetrazolium-based MTS assay.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
February 2021
Background: Chronic hypoxia plays an important role in the initiation and progression of chronic renal disease. The pathogenic role of chronic hypoxia in tubulointerstitial injury has been investigated widely, but little is known about acute hypoxia implications in glomerular damage. In this study, we investigated the effect of chronic hypoxia on transient receptor potential cation channel 6 (TRPC6) and the underlying mechanism in cultured human podocytes.
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