Study reveals immune driver of brain aging
Suppose Smokey Bear were to lose it and start setting forest fires instead of putting them out. That roughly describes the behavior of certain cells of our immune system that become increasingly irascible as we grow older. Instead of stamping out embers, they stoke the flames of chronic inflammation.
Biologists have long theorized that reducing this inflammation could slow the aging process and delay the onset of age-associated conditions, such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and frailty, and perhaps even forestall the gradual loss of mental acuity that happens to nearly everyone.
Hormonal Coupling Identified That Incites Inflammatory Rage and Ages the Brain
Source: Vladimir Soares on Unsplash
January 22, 2021
2 (PGE
2) signaling in immune cells as a key proinflammatory trigger that can be targeted to pacify unwanted inflammation and rejuvenate brain metabolism.
“Aging is not a static or irrevocable condition but can be reversed by reprogramming myeloid glucose metabolism to restore youthful immune functions,” the authors noted in
Nature.
If these experiments performed in aged mice and in human cell cultures can be replicated in humans, they will pave the way for new pharmaceuticals that recover mental abilities in older individuals.
That aging is egged on by inflammation is a long-standing theory in biology. Consequently, a therapeutic approach adopted to treat age-related pathologies such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, frailty, and the loss of mental acuity, has been to somehow quash inflammation. A challenge in this approach
Study reveals immune driver of brain aging
Scientists have identified a key factor in mental aging and shown that it might be prevented or reversed by fixing a glitch in the immune system’s front-line soldiers. Jan 20 2021
Katrin Andreasson is the senior author of a study that identifies a particular set of immune cells as a key driver of mental aging.
Steve Fisch
Suppose Smokey Bear were to lose it and start setting forest fires instead of putting them out. That roughly describes the behavior of certain cells of our immune system that become increasingly irascible as we grow older. Instead of stamping out embers, they stoke the flames of chronic inflammation.
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Suppose Smokey the Bear were to go on a tear and start setting forest fires instead of putting them out. That roughly describes the behavior of certain cells of our immune system that become increasingly irascible as we grow older. Instead of stamping out embers, they stoke the flames of chronic inflammation.
Biologists have long theorized that reducing this inflammation could slow the aging process and delay the onset of age-associated conditions, such as heart disease, Alzheimer s disease, cancer and frailty, and perhaps even forestall the gradual loss of mental acuity that happens to nearly everyone.
Yet the question of what, exactly, causes particular cells of the immune system to kick into inflammatory overdrive has lacked a definitive answer.