Protein Key to Lifespan and Healthy Aging Identified

A new study reveals the significant role of the CD300f immune receptor in determining life expectancy and healthy aging in mice. The lack of this protein in cells of the immune system, especially in macrophages and microglia, results in reduced lifespans and the development of pathologies linked to cognitive decline and early aging, notably more pronounced in females.

This discovery is crucial for understanding the aging process and could inform strategies for targeting CD300f in biomedicine, potentially serving as a biomarker in patients. Additionally, the study seeks to investigate the function of this immune receptor in the aging of the brain and its possible association with Alzheimer’s disease.

Key Facts:

1. Mice lacking the CD300f immune receptor exhibit premature aging symptoms and cognitive pathologies.
2. The extended observation of animals in the study provides an authentic perspective on aging processes, avoiding the use of accelerated aging models.
3. The research may lead to new insights into the relationship between immune system dysfunction, aging, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: University of Barcelona

Life expectancy and healthy aging in mice can be determined by a protein present in some cells of the immune system, as per findings published in the journal Cell Reports.

When this protein, identified as the CD300f immune receptor — is absent, animal models have a shorter life expectancy and suffer from pathologies associated with cognitive decline and premature aging, especially in females.

“Our study indicates that alterations in immune system cells, for instance, in macrophages and microglia, can determine the healthy aging degree in mice”, notes Hugo Peluffo, leader of this study and member of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro) of the University of Barcelona.

Understanding how the CD300f immune receptor — and the myeloid cells of the immune system — can determine by themselves the onset rate of ageing-associated pathologies, “will help to better understand this process, and it will contribute to the design of strategies to regulate its action. For instance, using the immune receptor CD300f as a target in biomedicine”, notes the expert. “Also, our team has previously shown that some variants of the CD300f immune receptor could be useful as biomarkers in patients”.

The publication, led by expert Frances Evans from the Institute Pasteur and Udelar, involves collaboration with teams from the Molecular Imaging Uruguayan Center (CUDIM), among other institutions.

What is the role of this receptor in aging?

The CD300f receptor is a protein expressed by immune system cells that modulates cell metabolism and inflammation. This research unveils the initial evidence of its involvement in processes associated with aging and senescence.

“In particular, we discovered that mice that lacked the CD300f immune receptor developed prematurely some pathologies associated with aging (cognitive deficits, motor incoordination, tumors, etc.) and even damage in several organs such as the brain, the liver or the lungs. Moreover, we observed an important effect on females, the most affected ones”, says Hugo Peluffo.

The study is based on detailed monitoring of several cohorts of animals for thirty months, a methodological innovation that allowed the researchers to see the process of real aging in these animals without using accelerated aging models, which do not fully represent a process that necessarily involves the gradual accumulation of changes with age.

Immune receptors and Alzheimer’s disease

The researcher points out that “the aim is to keep studying the consequences of the dysfunction of the CD300f immune receptor on brain aging, in particular on microglia”.

In these lines, a project led by Professor Hugo Peluffo to study the relationship between aging and Alzheimer’s disease has just received one of the Alzheimer’s research grants from the Pasqual Maragall Foundation. It aims to investigate how immune cells in the nervous system, referred to as microglia, impact the aging process and the delayed onset of Alzheimer’s.