Longevity Papers

Cellular senescence restrains the expansion of neoplastic cells through several layers of regulation. We report that the histone H3-specific demethylase KDM4 is expressed as human stromal cells undergo senescence. In clinical oncology, upregulated KDM4 and diminished H3K9/H3K36 methylation correlate with poorer survival of patients with prostate cancer after chemotherapy. Global chromatin accessibility mapping via assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing, and expression profiling through RNA sequencing, reveals global changes of chromatin openness and spatiotemporal reprogramming of the transcriptomic landscape, which underlie the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Selective targeting of KDM4 dampens the SASP of senescent stromal cells, promotes cancer cell apoptosis in the treatment-damaged tumor microenvironment, and prolongs survival of experimental animals. Our study supports dynamic changes of H3K9/H3K36 methylation during senescence, identifies an unusually permissive chromatin state, and unmasks KDM4 as a key SASP modulator. KDM4 targeting presents a new therapeutic avenue to manipulate cellular senescence and limit its contribution to age-related pathologies, including cancer.

This review tracks the discovery of circadian biology in cardiovascular science, starting with early clinical observations of daily changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiovascular events. These patterns suggested that time of day matters, but it was not until the past two decades that the mechanisms and knowledge translation of these rhythms were uncovered. We describe the heart's intrinsic circadian properties and importantly how this leads to regulation of cardiac gene and protein expression, neuroendocrine and vascular rhythms, metabolism, cellular electrophysiology, and cell signaling pathways. Next, we explore emerging themes, including the impact of circadian timing on ischemic injury, cardiac aging, and trends in circadian desynchrony, sex, and interorgan crosstalk. Building on these discoveries, circadian medicine is beginning to reshape clinical care including timing of surgery, chronotherapies, biomarkers, ICU design, novel molecular drugs targeting the circadian clock, the role of the microbiome and time restricted eating, the new field of rest, and the concept of One Health and applications to veterinary medicine. Looking ahead we address new frontiers such as epigenetics, gene editing, and spaceflight. Together, these advances offer a roadmap for how circadian rhythms can be harnessed to improve cardiovascular health and disease outcomes, supporting longer and healthier lives.

Histidine containing dipeptides (HCDs) such as N-acetylcarnosine are endogenous metabolites that are ergogenic and mitigate metabolic dysfunction. We previously demonstrated that short-term N-acetylcarnosine treatment is highly efficacious in protecting muscle atrophy induced by disuse. Here we demonstrate that a 6-months treatment of N-acetylcarnosine attenuates a broad spectrum of age-associated maladies and improved survival by ~50% in female mice. A comprehensive survey of organ systems revealed that N-acetylcarnosine prevents decline in adiposity, diastolic function, vasodilation, muscle strength, and bone density. Together, N-acetylcarnosine substantially delays the onset of system-wide end-stage pathology to prolong lifespan. As an endogenously present metabolite, treatment with N-acetylcarnosine may be a safe and promising intervention to promote healthy aging in humans.

Energy restriction is closely related to cellular senescence and species longevity. Here, based on the structure and function of ATP synthase, a key enzyme for energy generation, we develop energy metabolism-engaged nanomedicines (EM-eNMs) to rejuvenate aged stromal/stem cells, and help to prevent skeletal ageing. We show that EM-eNMs infiltrate the mitochondria of aged bone marrow mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (BMMSCs), driving mitochondrial fission, mitophagy, glycolysis and maintaining BMMSC stemness and multifunction. The EM-eNMs directly bind to the ATP synthase and promote mitophagy through induction of the dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) gene. Remarkably, EM-eNMs selectively target bone tissues through systemic delivery and significantly reverse osteoporotic bone loss in aged mice by enhancing mitochondrial fission and mitophagy, while simultaneously restoring the stemness and osteogenic potential of aged BMMSCs in situ. Taken together, our findings highlight the potential of the EM-eNMs as a targeted therapy to alleviate cellular senescence and age-related diseases.

Aging is a multi-modal process, leaving distinct signatures across molecular layers, including the epigenome. DNA methylation changes are among the most robust markers of biological aging. Yet, most studies rely on models assuming linear relationships with age and often analyze mixed-sex cohorts, overlooking well-known sex differences in the timing and nature of aging phases. Such approaches risk obscuring critical, non-linear transitions and sex-specific trajectories that may better capture the biology of aging. We developed a computational approach to detect complex, non-linear trajectories and disentangle shared from sex-divergent patterns. Applied to whole-blood deconvoluted methylomes from 252 females and 246 males spanning ages 19-90 years, this analysis revealed convergent and divergent epigenetic aging pathways independent of immune cell composition. These non-linear trajectories were enriched for developmental transcription factor binding motifs, including NF1/CTF and REST, which are known for their oncogenic potential. Strikingly, a female-specific non-linear cluster was robustly associated with cancer onset and systemic inflammation. Our results uncover sex-specific, non-linear aging programs that better capture the dynamics of epigenetic change than linear models. These findings nominate candidate biomarkers for early disease risk and offer mechanistic insight into how aging trajectories diverge between the sexes.

Understanding cellular and molecular drivers of age-related cognitive decline is necessary to identify targets to restore cognition at old age. Here we identify ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), an iron-associated protein, as a pro-aging neuronal factor that impairs cognition. Using transcriptomic and mass spectrometry approaches, we detect an increase in neuronal FTL1 in the hippocampus of aged mice, the levels of which correlate with cognitive decline. Mimicking an age-related increase in neuronal FTL1 in young mice alters labile iron oxidation states and promotes synaptic and cognitive features of hippocampal aging. Targeting neuronal FTL1 in the hippocampi of aged mice improves synaptic-related molecular changes and cognitive impairments. Using neuronal nuclei RNA sequencing, we detect changes in metabolic processes, such as ATP synthesis, and boosting these metabolic functions through NADH supplementation mitigated pro-aging effects of neuronal FTL1 on cognition. Our data identify neuronal FTL1 as a key molecular mediator of cognitive rejuvenation.

A hallmark of aging is chronic systemic inflammation, which is exacerbated by the hypersecretory aging phenotype known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). How the SASP is initiated to accelerate tissue inflammation and aging is an outstanding question in aging biology. Here, we showed that phosphorylation of the Mediator subunit MED15 at T603 is able to control the SASP and aging. Transforming growth factor-β selectively induces CDK1-mediated MED15 T603 phosphorylation to control SASP gene expression. The MED15 T603 dephosphorylated mutant (T603A) inhibits the SASP and cell senescence, whereas the T603 phosphorylation-mimicking mutant (T603D) has the opposite effect. Mechanistically, forkhead box protein A1 preferentially binds to unphosphorylated but not phosphorylated MED15 at T603 to suppress SASP gene expression. Notably, aging mice harboring dephosphorylated mutation in this phosphosite exhibit improved learning and memory through the attenuation of the SASP across tissues. Overall, our study indicates that MED15 T603 phosphorylation serves as a control switch for SASP production, which underlies tissue aging and cognitive decline and provides a novel target for age-related pathogenesis.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has posed significant threats to global health, particularly for the older population. Similarly, common human coronaviruses, such as HCoV-229E, which typically cause mild cold-like symptoms, have also been linked to severe diseases, underscoring the need to understand virus-host interactions and identify host factors contributing to viral pathogenesis and disease progression. In this study, we performed a genome-wide CRISPR knockout screen using HCoV-229E and identified Ubiquitin-like with PHD and RING finger domain 1 (UHRF1) as a potent restriction factor. Mechanistically, UHRF1 suppressed HCoV-229E infection by downregulating the expression of its cell entry receptor, aminopeptidase N (APN), through promoter hypermethylation. Focused CRISPR activation screens of UHRF1-downregulated genes confirmed the critical role of APN in HCoV-229E infection and identified additional genes (e.g., SIGLEC1, PLAC8, and heparan sulfate biosynthesis genes) contributing to the restrictive functions of UHRF1. Transcriptomic and single-cell RNA sequencing analysis revealed that UHRF1 expression decreases with age, negatively correlating with increased APN expression. This age-related decline in UHRF1 was further validated in primary alveolar macrophages isolated from elderly individuals, which exhibited heightened susceptibility to HCoV-229E infection compared to those from younger individuals. Our findings highlight UHRF1 as a key age-related host defense factor against coronavirus infection and provide novel insights into the epigenetic regulation of viral entry receptors.

The search for drugs that extend lifespan in human-like biological models is a frontier area in biomedical research. In this study, we report a novel electrochemical approach using flufenamic acid (FFA), a widely known nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to generate and detect its pharmacologically active metabolites. Electrochemical oxidation of FFA on multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNT)-modified electrode yielded hydroxylated derivatives, primarily 4-hydroxy FFA (m/z 297.05 g/mol) and a polyhydroxylated product termed FFA-Redox (m/z 243.05 g/mol), as surface-confined species (MWCNT@FFA-Redox). To establish biological relevance, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) were exposed to FFA, resulting in in vivo formation of metabolites identical to those generated electrochemically. This confirmed the physiological significance of the electrosynthesized compounds. Lifespan assays demonstrated that FFA-Redox prolonged the survival of C. elegans by up to 40% under Klebsiella pneumoniae infection and by up to 80% under Staphylococcus aureus infection. This protective effect was attributed to reduced levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mechanistic insights suggest that FFA-Redox induces a "de-aging" response by enhancing the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a key antioxidant enzyme activated during oxidative stress.