Regulation of inflammation as an anti‐aging intervention

Abstract

Aging is accompanied by a decline in physiological integrity and a loss of regenerative capacity in many tissues. The development of interventions that prevent or reverse age‐related disease requires a better understanding of the interplay of cell intrinsic, inter‐cellular communication and systemic deregulations that underlie the aging process. Immune dysfunction and changes in inflammatory pathways are transversal contributors to the aging process and are essential propagators of tissue deterioration. Here, we propose and discuss the rejuvenation potential of interventions that target chronic inflammation and how modulation of tissue repair capacity could be an important mediator of such anti‐aging strategies. We highlight how current knowledge on the systemic nature of inflammatory dysregulation in old organisms, together with the development of new animal models that allow for the isolation of the inflammatory component of aging, could provide new targets for interventions in aging based on the modulation of inflammatory pathways.

Cholesterol versus Inflammation as Cause of Chronic Diseases

“…Chronic inflammation has been proposed as a major player in the development and progression of other chronic diseases [28,30,31,32]. Further, targeting chronic inflammation has been suggested as an intervention to reduce aging-related complications and improving tissue repair [28,33].…”

“…These diets and others such as DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and portfolio diets have the same aim of reducing systemic inflammation [43]. The reduction in chronic inflammation would reduce the tissue damage to prevent disease progression [33]. Improvement in tissue status, along with anti-inflammatory effects, would improve overall metabolic health of an individual.…”

Aging eyes and the immune system

“…This problem, which I encountered when trying to apply SC-based interventions to treat retinal disease, will likely be an important roadblock to the clini-cal application of regenerative medicine approaches in elderly patients, those most likely to benefit from such interventions. I therefore hypothesized that the inflammatory environment present in aged and diseased tissues would be a major roadblock for efficient repair and that finding immune modulators with the ability to resolve chronic inflammation and promote a prorepair environment would be an efficient approach to improve the success of SC-based therapies (2,3).…”

“…Immune cells, as sources and targets of inflammatory signals, emerged naturally as an ideal target for intervention. I chose to focus on macrophages, which are immune cells of myeloid origin that exist in virtually every tissue of the human body and which are able to reversibly polarize into specific phenotypes, a property that is essential to coordinate tissue repair (3,4).…”

“…One expected outcome of reestablishing a regulated inflammatory response is the optimization of tissue repair capacity that naturally decreases during aging (3). Combining these interventions with SCbased therapeutics holds potential to deliver on the promise of regenerative medicine as a path to rejuvenation (1 Members and friends of AAAS are invited to join AAAS Travels on fascinating trips to all 7 continents!…”