Scientists are making increasingly more discoveries about the causes of ageing and how this is connected to inflammation in the body. For example, it turns out that DNA and RNA that normally remain within the cell nucleus or mitochondria sometimes end up in the wrong place within the cell as we age. This can trigger the immune system, causing chronic inflammation that is harmful to the body. This type of inflammation plays a role in age-related diseases and blood vessel problems, such as thrombosis.
In addition, researchers are looking at potential treatments for modifying the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome consists of billions of bacteria that are important for our health. Some studies focus on transferring gut bacteria from young to older people in order to rejuvenate the microbiome. Because this turns out to be difficult in practice due to regulations and variation between individuals, work is being done on artificial mixtures of beneficial bacteria. In the future, this may offer a safer and more standardised alternative.
There is also a growing interest in the role of brain inflammation in neurodegenerative disorders, such as dementia. A specific protein system in our cells, called cGAS-STING, plays an important role in this. This system reacts to DNA that ends up in the wrong place within cells, thereby triggering inflammatory responses. Targeting this mechanism could potentially help to slow down brain ageing and memory problems.
Furthermore, increasing amounts of funding are becoming available for research into ‘cell reprogramming’. This involves resetting cells to a younger, healthier state. This is a promising new approach to combat age-related complaints and treat age-related diseases. Although other methods, such as clearing away damaged cells, have been studied for longer, this reprogramming is rapidly gaining ground thanks to heavy investment.
These developments are important because they help us understand how we can age healthily and what new treatments are on the horizon. The aim is to better control the ageing processes and thus achieve a better quality of life at a later age.
Source: Reason
