New discovery reveals the secret behind Inflammageing or age-related inflammation, a risk factor for multiple chronic diseases including heart and neurodegenerative diseases
Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine have uncovered a primary contributor to chronic inflammation that speeds up aging. This discovery opens the door to potentially prolonging our lives, boosting our health, and warding off diseases associated with aging like deadly cardiac diseases and debilitating cognitive disorders.
So, what fuels this detrimental inflammation?
The culprit appears to be faulty calcium signaling within the mitochondria of specific immune cells. Mitochondria, often referred to as the cell’s powerhouses, heavily depend on calcium signaling.
Under the guidance of Bimal N. Desai, PhD, the research team at UVA Health determined that with aging, the mitochondria in immune cells, known as macrophages, lose their capacity to absorb and utilize calcium. According to their findings, this loss leads to chronic inflammation that underlies numerous health problems in our golden years.
They theorize that boosting calcium intake by mitochondrial macrophages could stave off this destructive inflammation and its associated ramifications. As macrophages are present in all our body’s organs, including the brain, focusing on these “tissue-resident macrophages” with suitable medication might help mitigate age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
“I think we have made a key conceptual breakthrough in understanding the molecular underpinnings of age-associated inflammation,” remarked Desai, from the Department of Pharmacology and Carter Immunology Center at UVA.
For Desari, “This revelation shines a light on potential therapeutic strategies to halt the inflammatory cascades that are at the heart of many cardiometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.”
Why are macrophages important in our immune system?
Macrophages, a type of white blood cell, play vital roles in maintaining our health and robust immune systems.
They engulf dying or dead cells, facilitating the removal of cellular waste from our bodies, and keeping a lookout for pathogens and other foreign bodies.
In this capacity, they serve as crucial guards for our immune systems, mobilizing additional immune cells when necessary.
It’s been recognized that macrophages’ effectiveness declines with age, though the reasons have remained elusive. Desai’s new discovery offers some answers.
The research team, led by Desai, indicates that their study has pinpointed a “keystone” mechanism responsible for age-related changes in macrophages.
They propose that these changes predispose macrophages to a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation.
When these immune cells encounter a foreign invader or tissue damage, they can become overactive, leading to inflammageing, the age-accelerating chronic inflammation.
Moreover, UVA Health scientists hypothesize that this mechanism they’ve uncovered isn’t exclusive to macrophages but also applies to other immune cells produced in the bone marrow.
This implies the potential to enhance the functioning of these cells too, possibly providing our immune systems with a significant advantage in our later years when vulnerability to diseases increases.
Can taking a calcium supplement fix Inflammageing?
Addressing inflammageing isn’t as straightforward as merely taking a calcium supplement. The issue lies less in a calcium deficiency and more in the macrophages’ compromised ability to effectively use it.
However, Desai’s recent discovery has shed light on the specific molecular machinery involved in this process, and we should be able to devise ways to stimulate this machinery in aging cells.
“Now, moving forward, we need an equally ambitious effort to figure out the wiring that controls this mitochondrial process in different types of macrophages and then manipulate that wiring in creative ways for biomedical impact,” Desai added.
The findings of the study were published in Nature Aging.
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