Pressemitteilungen

Newly discovered protein has important function in plants - and could also be important for Alzheimer's research

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Prof. Volker Haucke, Director at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) receives the Feldberg Prize 2020, which is awarded annually by the Feldberg Foundation for anglo-german scientific exchange. The aim is to promote scientific exchange between British and German researchers in the field of experimental medicine, in particular in the disciplines of physiology and pharmacology.

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Organism aging is characterized by increases in inflammation and decreases in stem cell function. The relationship between these processes remains incompletely understood. Researchers of the Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena, Germany, identified a new role of the protein cohesin in mediating inflammatory signaling in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Cohesin is required for gene regulation during normal differentiation, but chronic inflammation in aging impairs the function and self-renewal of HSCs by constant activation of cohesin-mediated inflammatory signals. HSC with reduced cohesin, increased self-renewal and skewed differentiation are selected, resembling the hallmarks of hematopoietic aging.

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Little is known about eczema in the elderly. New insights on this topic were recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. They are based on a two-step investigation of researchers from the IUF in Düsseldorf, Germany.

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The regenerative capacity of the nervous system declines during aging; the risk to develop nerve pathologies increases. Researchers of the Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena investigated the regeneration of aging nerves in collaboration with colleagues from the university hospital Jena and the University of Bonn. They found that a disturbed immune response leading to chronic inflammation is significantly involved in this. Moreover, the researchers demonstrated the efficacy of an anti-inflammatory therapy to improve nerve regeneration and identified promising aging markers that are currently being tested as therapeutic targets.

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The WT1 gene fulfills a central role in the development of a healthy, proper functioning kidney. Mutations in WT1 lead to impairments in kidney development and cause Wilms tumors, a pediatric kidney cancer. Researchers of the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena have now discovered a further important function of WT1. It is also active outside the kidneys in the central nervous system and is involved in controlling movement. If the gene is missing in the spinal cord, locomotor aberrancies occur. The results have now been published in Life Science Alliance.

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The liver is one of the most important human organs. It is essential for metabolism, blood detoxification and the functioning of the immune system. Moreover, the liver is the only organ which can fully regenerate its cell mass within a few weeks after more than half of the organ has been removed. The researchers led by Professor Eckhard Lammert have discovered that it is due to increased blood flow and subsequent dilation of the liver vasculature that the liver receives signals for growth. The signals come from the cells of the blood vessels that react to the mechanical stimulation. The publication is based on the findings published in 2001 that blood vessels affect organs in their function and growth (Lammert et al., Science 2001).

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Around 200 researchers from 16 countries meet in Jena from September 6-8 at the international “Jena Aging Meeting” to discuss latest research results and developments in the field of aging research. The very first JAM is organized by the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) together with the Leibniz Research Alliance “Healthy Ageing”.

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By studying the skin phenotype of the hereditary disease Cockayne syndrome researchers at the IUF and HHU Düsseldorf have found a mechanism which can prevent the loss of subcutaneous fat, i.e. one of the cardinal symptoms of Cockayne syndrome. This study was now published in “Science Translational Medicine”.

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Scientists of the LRA Healthy Ageing represented the research alliance at an interdisciplinary meeting of ageing researchers in Berkeley on August 17th. The Center for Research and Education on Aging (CREA) at the UC Berkeley organized together with other UC Berkeley organizations dedicated in ageing research a summit of ageing researchers in California. The participating disciplines were similar to the ones, which are working together in the LRA Healthy Ageing. George Brooks and Steve Garan from CREA invited scientists from biomedicine, adult education, social science and technologies to discuss questions of ageing. From the FLI Helen Morrison, Alessandro Ori and Wilfried Briest took part and informed the participants about the work in the LRA Healthy Ageing. Helen Morrison, speaker of the research alliance, is optimistic that the international cooperation between CREA and the LRA Healthy Ageing will develop.

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Although many patients suffer from polyneuropathy, relatively little is currently known about its development, which also limits the therapeutic options. It is known that inflammatory processes contribute to other diabetic complications such as heart attack or stroke. The aim of this new study was therefore the extensive analysis of biomarkers that characterize inflammatory processes as a risk factor for distal sensory polyneuropathy (DSPN). Both people with type 2 diabetes and people in the elderly general population were examined.

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If certain signaling cascades are misregulated, diseases like cancer, obesity and diabetes may occur. A mechanism recently discovered by scientists at the Leibniz- Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin and at the University of Geneva has a crucial influence on such signaling cascades and may be an important key for the future development of therapies against these diseases. The results of the study have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal 'Molecular Cell'.

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Ukrainian cell biologist Dr. Yuliya Kurlishchuk has received a research fellowship for postdocs from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. With this funding, she is now a guest at the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena for the next two years. She is going to investigate the regenerative capacity of cells in the research group “Transcriptional Control of Tissue Homeostasis” of Dr. Björn von Eyss.

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Triple-negative breast cancer is a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. Here, important receptors are missing, which often serve as targets for treatments. Thus, these tumors are unlikely to respond to current therapies. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena now identified the protein TRPS1, which is commonly overexpressed in these tumors. When TRPS1 is down-regulated, tumor growth decreases whereas survival rates increase. This is a possible therapeutic approach for the treatment of this aggressive form of breast cancer. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Naked mole-rats can live considerably longer than other rodents like mouse, rat or guinea pig. This makes them outliers among mammals, just as humans with their maximum lifespan of about 120 years. The identification of genetic and molecular characteristics that distinguish long-lived from short-lived species enables the identification of naturally evolved mechanisms to a long and healthy life. Researchers of the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) together with colleagues of other research institutions now published two back-to-back studies on the longevity of naked mole-rats in the journal BMC Biology.

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Women with obesity are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, even if they are considered to be metabolically healthy. Moreover, women of normal weight are at risk of heart attack or stroke if they suffer from a metabolic disease such as diabetes or high blood pressure. These are the results of an analysis conducted by scientists of the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE), Harvard University and University Hospital Tübingen based on 90,257 data records of a large U.S. cohort study. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

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Aging is associated with an increase in frailty and age related-diseases. A calorie-restricted diet is known to alleviate these age-related conditions. Researchers from the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) in Groningen, Netherlands, and the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena, Germany, now demonstrate in a mouse model that the C/EBPß-LIP gene regulator is involved in the aging process. If LIP is missing, the lifespan of mice increases and the physical fitness is maintained during aging without exposing the mice to a calorie-restricted diet. The research results were published in the renowned journal eLife.

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Scientists from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, discovered a new mechanism that is important for cells to survive starvation. The protein NUFIP1, which normally occurs in the cell nucleus, migrates into the cytoplasm when there is a lack of nutrients and binds to ribosomes, which are then marked for degradation; an important survival strategy of the cell to ensure the maintenance of the cell upon starvation. The research results were now published in the renowned journal Science.

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In old age, humans increasingly suffer from infections. In such a case, blood stem cells that are usually inactive are activated in order to produce as many blood and immune cells as needed to fight the infection. However, every cell division entails the risk of accumulating DNA damages, which subsequently can prevent stem cells to become inactive again. Damaged cells are usually detected and eliminated, but if all stem cells are gone, there will be no more reservoir feeding into the mature immune cell pool to defend the body during the next infection. Now, researchers from Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena, Germany, have identified a central mechanism related to the enzyme SETD1A, which is responsible for detecting and repairing DNA damages in blood stem cells and, hence, is crucial for blood stem cells go back to sleep after infections.

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The genetic basis of lifespan determination is poorly understood. Most research has been done on short-lived animals, and it is unclear if these insights can be transferred to long-lived mammals like humans. By comparing genes of long- and short-lived rodents, researchers from Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena/Germany now identified in a collaborative project several novel genes possibly influencing longevity and healthy aging in mammals. The results have been published in journal PLoS Genetics.

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