PathoClock and PhysioClock in mice recapitulate human multimorbidity and heterogeneous aging

Background: Multimorbidity is a public health concern and an essential component of aging and healthspan but understudied because investigative tools are lacking that can be translatable to capture similarities and differences of the aging process across species and variability between individuals and individual organs. Methods: To help address this need, body organ disease number (BODN) borrowed from human studies was applied to C57BL/6 (B6) and CB6F1 mouse strains at 8, 16, 24, and 32 months of age, as a measure of systems morbidity based on pathology lesions to develop a mouse PathoClock resembling clinically-based Body Clock in humans, using Bayesian inference. A mouse PhysioClock was also developed based on measures of physiological domains including cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and cognitive function in the same two mouse strains so that alignment with BODN was predictable. Results: Between- and within-age variabilities in PathoClock and PhysioClock, as well as between-strain variabilities. Both PathoClock and PhysioClock correlated with chronological age more strongly in CB6F1 than C57BL/6. Prediction models were then developed, designated as PathoAge and PhysioAge, using regression models of pathology and physiology measures on chronological age. PathoAge better predicted chronological age than PhysioAge as the predicted chronological and observed chronological age for PhysioAge were complex rather than linear. Conclusion: PathoClock and PhathoAge can be used to capture biological changes that predict BODN, a metric developed in humans, and compare multimorbidity across species. These mouse clocks are potential translational tools that could be used in aging intervention studies. Keywords: Multimorbidity, aging, pathology, physiology, pathoClock, physioClock, pathoAge, physioAge

In silico identification of anti-aging pharmaceutics from community knowledge

In this era of Big Data, the volume of biological data is growing exponentially. Systematic profiling and analysis of these data will provide a new insight into biology and human health. Among diverse types of biological data, gene expression data closely mirror both the static phenotypes and the dynamic changes in biological systems. Drug-to-drug or drug-to-disease comparison of gene expression signature allows repurposing/repositioning of existing pharmaceutics to treat additional diseases that, in turn, provides a rapid and cost-effective approach for drug discovery. Thanks to technological advances, gene expression profiling by mRNA-seq became a routine tool to address all aspects of the problem in modern biological research. Here, we present how drug repositioning using published mRNA-seq data can provide unbiased and applicable pharmaco-chemical intervention strategies to human diseases and aging. In specifics, we profiled over a half-million gene expression profiling data generated from various contexts, and using this, we screened conditions that can suppress age-associated gene expression changes. As a result, our analysis identified various previously validated aging intervention strategies as positive hits. Furthermore, our analysis also predicted a novel group of chemicals that has not been studied from an aging context, and this indeed significantly extended the life span in model animals. Taken together, our data demonstrate that our community knowledge-guided in silico drug-discovery pipeline provides a useful and effective tool to identify the novel aging intervention strategy.

PathoClock and PhysioClock in mice recapitulate human multimorbidity and heterogeneous aging

Multimorbidity is a public health concern and an essential component of aging and healthspan but understudied because investigative tools are lacking that can be translatable to capture similarities and differences of the aging process across species and variability between individuals and individual organs. To help address this need, body organ disease number (BODN) borrowed from human studies was applied to C57BL/6 (B6) and CB6F1 mouse strains at 8, 16, 24, and 32 months of age, as a measure of systems morbidity based on pathology lesions to develop a mouse PathoClock resembling clinically-based Body Clock in humans, using Bayesian inference. A mouse PhysioClock was also developed based on measures of physiological domains including cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and cognitive function in the same two mouse strains so that alignment with BODN was predictable. The results revealed between- and within-age variabilities in PathoClock and PhysioClock, as well as between-strain variabilities. Both PathoClock and PhysioClock correlated with chronological age more strongly in CB6F1 than C57BL/6. Prediction models were then developed, designated as PathoAge and PhysioAge, using regression models of pathology and physiology measures on chronological age. PathoAge better predicted chronological age than PhysioAge as the predicted chronological and observed chronological age for PhysioAge were complex rather than linear. In conclusion, PathoClock and PhathoAge can be used to capture biological changes that predict BODN, a metric developed in humans, and compare multimorbidity across species. These mouse clocks are potential translational tools that could be used in aging intervention studies.

Intellectual Disability, Employment and Aging: Intervention Measures

Workers living with intellectual disability suffer in a special way from the onset of premature aging. Hence the need to generate alternatives and policies for the development of a new model for active aging and the care of workers with intellectual disability. Our objective in this study is, therefore, to devise intervention measures that can minimize the effects of aging on the lives and the activities of these workers. Employing the Delphi technique, we assembled and consulted a panel of 8 experts with relevant expertise in the fields of intellectual disability; aging; employment and dependency. The panel included employers, families and workers with disability. Each expert reached a prior consensus over every response and contribution after having consulted four other experts with similar backgrounds, a consultative process in which a total of 40 experts participated. A total of 68 measures were proposed which correspond to three lines of action or key contexts: Firms and Organizations that employ People with Intellectual Disability; People with Intellectual Disability, and Family setting. In all, 10 recommendations with a focus on both firms and organizations were advanced to implement the proposed measures. The conclusion was that interventions are needed from the time at which the first symptoms of deterioration are detected, which should not necessarily lead to immediate loss of employment, as well as individualized and coordinated interventions among all relevant stakeholders, including the families.

Extracellular vesicles deposit PCNA to rejuvenate aged bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells and slow age-related degeneration

Stem cell senescence increases alongside the progressive functional declines that characterize aging. The effects of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are now attracting intense interest in the context of aging and age-related diseases. Here, we demonstrate that neonatal umbilical cord (UC) is a source of EVs derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EVs). These UC-produced MSC-EVs (UC-EVs) contain abundant anti-aging signals and rejuvenate senescing adult bone marrow–derived MSCs (AB-MSCs). UC-EV–rejuvenated AB-MSCs exhibited alleviated aging phenotypes and increased self-renewal capacity and telomere length. Mechanistically, UC-EVs rejuvenate AB-MSCs at least partially by transferring proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) into recipient AB-MSCs. When tested in therapeutic context, UC-EV–triggered rejuvenation enhanced the regenerative capacities of AB-MSCs in bone formation, wound healing, and angiogenesis. Intravenously injected UC-EVs conferred anti-aging phenotypes including decreased bone and kidney degeneration in aged mice. Our findings reveal that UC-EVs are of high translational value in anti-aging intervention.

ApoE e2 and aging-related outcomes in 379,000 UK Biobank participants

The Apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele is associated with reduced longevity and increased Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and Alzheimer’s disease, with e4e4 having markedly larger effect sizes than e3e4. The e2 longevity promoting variant is less studied. We conducted a phenome-wide association study of ApoE e2e3 and e2e2 with aging phenotypes, to assess their potential as targets for anti-aging interventions. Data were from 379,000 UK Biobank participants, aged 40 to 70 years. e2e3 (n=46,535) had mostly lower lipid-related biomarker levels including reduced total and LDL-cholesterol, and lower risks of CAD (Odds Ratio=0.87, 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.90, p=4.92×10−14) and hypertension(OR=0.94, 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.97, p=7.28×10−7) versus e3e3. However, lipid changes in e2e2 (n=2,398) were more extreme, including a marked increase in triglyceride levels (0.41 Standard Deviations, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.45, p=5.42×10−92), with no associated changes in CAD risks. There were no associations with biomarkers of kidney function. The effects of both e2e2 and e2e3 were minimal on falls, muscle mass, grip strength or frailty. In conclusion, e2e3 has protective effects on some health outcomes, but the effects of e2e2 are not similar, complicating the potential usefulness of e2 as a target for anti-aging intervention.

The Effects of Calorie Restriction on Autophagy: Role on Aging Intervention

Autophagy is an important housekeeping process that maintains a proper cellular homeostasis under normal physiologic and/or pathologic conditions. It is responsible for the disposal and recycling of metabolic macromolecules and damaged organelles through broad lysosomal degradation processes. Under stress conditions, including nutrient deficiency, autophagy is substantially activated to maintain proper cell function and promote cell survival. Altered autophagy processes have been reported in various aging studies, and a dysregulated autophagy is associated with various age-associated diseases. Calorie restriction (CR) is regarded as the gold standard for many aging intervention methods. Although it is clear that CR has diverse effects in counteracting aging process, the exact mechanisms by which it modulates those processes are still controversial. Recent advances in CR research have suggested that the activation of autophagy is linked to the observed beneficial anti-aging effects. Evidence showed that CR induced a robust autophagy response in various metabolic tissues, and that the inhibition of autophagy attenuated the anti-aging effects of CR. The mechanisms by which CR modulates the complex process of autophagy have been investigated in depth. In this review, several major advances related to CR’s anti-aging mechanisms and anti-aging mimetics will be discussed, focusing on the modification of the autophagy response.