2023-12-01 11:15:03
Life expectancy and healthy aging, at least in mice, may be determined by a protein present in some cells of the immune system, according to the results of a new study.
When this protein—known as the immunoreceptor CD300f—is not present, animal models have a shorter life expectancy and suffer pathologies associated with cognitive decline and premature aging, especially females.
“Our study shows that alterations in cells of the immune system, for example, in macrophages and microglia, can determine the degree of healthy aging in mice,” highlights Hugo Peluffo, co-author of the work and member of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBneuro).
Understanding how the immunoreceptor CD300f—and also the myeloid cells of the immune system—can alone determine the rate of appearance of pathologies associated with aging, “will help to better understand this process, and will contribute to the design of strategies to regulate its action. For example, using the immunoreceptor CD300f as a target in biomedicine,” says the expert. “In addition, our group has previously shown that some variants of the immunoreceptor CD300f could be useful as biomarkers in patients.”
In the study, whose first author is the expert Frances Evans (Pasteur and Udelar Institute), teams from the Uruguayan Center for Molecular Imaging (CUDIM), among other institutions, also participate.
Artistic recreation of the concept of the passage of time in cells. (Illustration: Amazings/NCYT)
What function does this receptor have in aging?
The CD300f receptor is a protein expressed by cells of the immune system that modulates inflammation and cellular metabolism. This study reveals the first evidence of its role in processes related to aging and senescence.
«In particular, we have discovered that in mice that did not have the CD300f immunoreceptor, some pathologies associated with aging (cognitive deficits, motor incoordination, tumors, etc.) emerged prematurely, and even damage to different organs such as the brain, liver or the lungs. In addition, an important and more prominent effect was also evident in females, who were the most affected,” says Hugo Peluffo.
The study is based on a detailed monitoring of various cohorts of animals for thirty months, a methodological innovation that allowed us to reflect the real aging process in these animals without using accelerated aging models, which do not faithfully represent a process that necessarily involves the accumulation gradual changes with age.
The study is titled “CD300f immune receptor contributes to healthy aging by regulating inflammation, metabolism, and cognitive decline.” And it has been published in the academic journal Cell Reports.
Immunoreceptors and Alzheimer’s disease
As the researcher indicates, “the objective is to continue investigating the consequences of CD300f immunoreceptor dysfunction on brain aging, particularly on microglia.”
Along these lines, a project led by Professor Hugo Peluffo to study the relationship between aging and Alzheimer’s disease has just won one of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation’s Alzheimer’s research grants. Specifically, it will explore how the immune cells of the nervous system, known as microglia, influence the aging process and the late onset of Alzheimer’s. «In this project funded by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation we will study the possible role of this immunoreceptor in Alzheimer’s disease», concludes the researcher. (Source: UB)
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