Biological complexity: immune system inluences aging (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 00:03 (383 days ago) @ David Turell

A new molecular discovery:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-immune-molecule-aging-lifespan.html

"Aging is a natural process that affects all living organisms, prompting gradual changes in their behavior and abilities. Past studies have highlighted several physiological factors that can contribute to aging, including the body's immune responses, an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen (i.e., free radicals) and antioxidants, and sleep disturbances.

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"Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently identified an immune molecule that could play a key role in modulating the process of aging and the duration living organism's lifespan.

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"Our previous research identified a gene called Slpi as the top-upregulated gene in the meninges of old mice. Slpi is evolutionarily conserved and has an ortholog named IM33 in Drosophila, prompting us to turn to flies to study its role in aging, leveraging their powerful genetics and short lifespan," Wangchao Xu, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Medical Xpress.

"'Concurrently, inspired by our lab's other findings suggesting that cytokines can shape animal behaviors, I used flies to screen for all immune effectors that can modulate fly behaviors and found that IM33 was a modulator of sleep."

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"When the team knocked down this gene in the immune cells of fruit flies, they found that this increased the level of reactive oxygen species and altered the composition of microbiota in their gut. This resulted in oxidative stress and in an imbalance in bacterial composition (i.e., dysbiosis), which in turn reduced their lifespan. The researchers found that knocking down this gene also caused sleep disturbances, which have also been associated with aging and a shorter lifespan.

"'This is a proof-of-concept study demonstrating that an evolutionarily conserved immune molecule can serve as a messenger, conveying information between the brain and gut to regulate different levels of aging and control lifespan," Xu said. "This function goes beyond its immune role and further strengthens the contribution of neuroimmune interaction to aging.

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""\'We suggest that peptidoglycan signaling, a conserved immune pathway, in the neuron could be a potentially novel target to slow down aging," Xu added.

"'The mechanisms through which the brain secreted IM33 shapes the gut immune environment remain mysterious and warrant further investigation. Moreover, testing the role of meningeal Slpi in mice will help determine whether this is a shared mechanism throughout evolution and provide additional supportive evidence for future translational studies.'"

Comment: it is not surprising that inflammation, oxidative stress and change in gut biome induces aging. The good our inhabitant microbiome does for us can have a bad side effect.