Wrinkles, gray hair, and especially health concerns … These markers of aging are (sadly) known. On the other hand, what we continue to ignore are the reasons for this “decline”.
Why do certain diseases (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.) become more frequent with age?
“This remains a deep biological mystery; we do not know the ‘molecular start” of aging “introduces Miguel Godinho Ferreira, CNRS research director at IRCAN (Cancer and aging research institute) in Nice.
With his team and Naz şerifoğlu in particular, he has just uncovered a mechanism that could play this role (1). Starting from two well -established facts.
“Our telomeres, these kinds of ‘caps’ at the end of our chromosomes, shorten over time [lire interview ci-dessous]. We know on the other hand that from 40-50 years, chronic and discreet inflammation settles in our body. This phenomenon, called inflammagingis associated with many age -related diseases. But so far, the link between short telomeres and low noise inflammation has not been established. “
Activation of an immune route
To explore this link, the researchers used a widely used model to explore the molecular tracks of cancer: zebra fish.
“We have used genetically modified fish that age prematurely. At only six to nine months, they already have visible signs of senescence – muscle weakness, reduced mobility, back curvature, infertility … Their life expectancy is divided by four compared to wild fish. We have shown, on these models, that when the telomers become too short, the cells interpret this as if acted with a “degradation” of DNA. This then triggers the activation of an innate immune defense called CGAS-Stting/Interferon, leading to chronic inflammation with deleterious effects on the body. »»
Spectacular proof of the links between short telomeres and inflammation: by blocking this inflammatory path, the effects of premature aging disappear.
“By making the CGAS-Sting/interferon inactive way, we get fish with radically different profile. Despite short telomeres, they live longer, find their fertility and keep tissues in much better condition. The signs of premature aging disappeared largely.”
Short telomeres, organic timer
This work therefore establishes, directly, that short telomeres are not simple markers of aging: they are active triggers.
“They serve as a biological timer: when they reach a critical threshold, they activate an alarm program, which triggers an inflammatory process, a base of age -related diseases.”
This discovery opens up new therapeutic perspectives.
“If we manage to selectively block this inflammatory route (by drugs targeting the CGAS-STING/Interferon path, already in development in the world), it would be theoretically possible to delay, or even mitigate, the effects of aging; one could in particular hope to reduce the incidence of many diseases whose frequency increases with age, including certain cancers, which prosper in the inflamed tissues.”
1- This research was published on June 9 in The Embo Journal, One of the best international scientific journals.
