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Ferrucci L, Gonzalez‐Freire M, Fabbri E, Simonsick E, Tanaka T, Moore Z, Salimi S, Sierra F, de Cabo R. Measuring biological aging in humans: A quest. Aging Cell 2020; 19:e13080. [PMID: 31833194 PMCID: PMC6996955 DOI: 10.1111/acel.13080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 326] [Impact Index Per Article: 81.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The global population of individuals over the age of 65 is growing at an unprecedented rate and is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. Most older individuals are affected by multiple chronic diseases, leading to complex drug treatments and increased risk of physical and cognitive disability. Improving or preserving the health and quality of life of these individuals is challenging due to a lack of well-established clinical guidelines. Physicians are often forced to engage in cycles of "trial and error" that are centered on palliative treatment of symptoms rather than the root cause, often resulting in dubious outcomes. Recently, geroscience challenged this view, proposing that the underlying biological mechanisms of aging are central to the global increase in susceptibility to disease and disability that occurs with aging. In fact, strong correlations have recently been revealed between health dimensions and phenotypes that are typical of aging, especially with autophagy, mitochondrial function, cellular senescence, and DNA methylation. Current research focuses on measuring the pace of aging to identify individuals who are "aging faster" to test and develop interventions that could prevent or delay the progression of multimorbidity and disability with aging. Understanding how the underlying biological mechanisms of aging connect to and impact longitudinal changes in health trajectories offers a unique opportunity to identify resilience mechanisms, their dynamic changes, and their impact on stress responses. Harnessing how to evoke and control resilience mechanisms in individuals with successful aging could lead to writing a new chapter in human medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Ferrucci
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Marta Gonzalez‐Freire
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Elisa Fabbri
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
- Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesUniversity of BolognaBolognaItaly
| | - Eleanor Simonsick
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Toshiko Tanaka
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Zenobia Moore
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Shabnam Salimi
- Department of Epidemiology and Public HealthUniversity of Maryland School of MedicineBaltimoreMDUSA
| | - Felipe Sierra
- Division of Aging BiologyNational Institute on AgingNIHBethesdaMDUSA
| | - Rafael de Cabo
- Translational Gerontology BranchBiomedical Research CenterNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of HealthBaltimoreMDUSA
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Maynard S, Hejl AM, Dinh TST, Keijzers G, Hansen ÅM, Desler C, Moreno-Villanueva M, Bürkle A, Rasmussen LJ, Waldemar G, Bohr VA. Defective mitochondrial respiration, altered dNTP pools and reduced AP endonuclease 1 activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Alzheimer's disease patients. Aging (Albany NY) 2016; 7:793-815. [PMID: 26539816 PMCID: PMC4637207 DOI: 10.18632/aging.100810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
AIMS Accurate biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are badly needed. Recent reports suggest that dysfunctional mitochondria and DNA damage are associated with AD development. In this report, we measured various cellular parameters, related to mitochondrial bioenergetics and DNA damage, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of AD and control participants, for biomarker discovery. METHODS PBMCs were isolated from 53 patients with AD of mild to moderate degree and 30 age-matched healthy controls. Tests were performed on the PBMCs from as many of these participants as possible. We measured glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration fluxes using the Seahorse Bioscience flux analyzer, mitochondrial ROS production using flow cytometry, dNTP levels by way of a DNA polymerization assay, DNA strand breaks using the Fluorometric detection of Alkaline DNA Unwinding (FADU) assay, and APE1 incision activity (in cell lysates) on a DNA substrate containing an AP site (to estimate DNA repair efficiency). RESULTS In the PBMCs of AD patients, we found reduced basal mitochondrial oxygen consumption, reduced proton leak, higher dATP level, and lower AP endonuclease 1 activity, depending on adjustments for gender and/or age. CONCLUSIONS This study reveals impaired mitochondrial respiration, altered dNTP pools and reduced DNA repair activity in PBMCs of AD patients, thus suggesting that these biochemical activities may be useful as biomarkers for AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Maynard
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anne-Mette Hejl
- Department of Neurology, Danish Dementia Research Centre, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thuan-Son T Dinh
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Guido Keijzers
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Åse M Hansen
- Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark.,The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Claus Desler
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Alexander Bürkle
- Molecular Toxicology Group, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Lene J Rasmussen
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gunhild Waldemar
- Department of Neurology, Danish Dementia Research Centre, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Vilhelm A Bohr
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.,Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224-6825, USA
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