npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-26DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00224-1
Dalia Barayan, Fadi Khalaf, Sarah Rehou, Diana Julia Tedesco, Punit Bhattachan, Gregory Pond, Abdikarim Abdullahi, Marc G Jeschke
{"title":"Metformin administration improves adverse outcomes in older adult burn patients: a single-centre cohort study.","authors":"Dalia Barayan, Fadi Khalaf, Sarah Rehou, Diana Julia Tedesco, Punit Bhattachan, Gregory Pond, Abdikarim Abdullahi, Marc G Jeschke","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00224-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00224-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study assesses the safety and efficacy of metformin administration in older adult burn patients, a rapidly growing demographic with substantially poorer outcomes. This is a single-centre cohort study of older adults (≥60 years) admitted to a provincial burn center over 15 years. Clinical outcomes, laboratory measures, inflammatory markers, and adipose tissue single-nuclei RNA sequencing (SnRNA-seq) were compared among metformin-treated and non-treated controls. A total of 50 metformin-treated and 262 control older burn patients met the eligibility criteria. Despite pre-admission comorbidities, metformin-treated patients showed improved survival, no significant differences in the number of hypoglycemic episodes, a lower incidence of lactic acidosis, and reduced circulating levels of organ damage markers. SnRNA-Seq further revealed that metformin may exert its beneficial effects by local restoration of immune and inflammatory responses. In older burn patients, metformin was linked with improved outcomes and no adverse effects, underscoring its safety and efficacy in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"43"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12106820/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144153152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-25DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00228-x
Yawen Xu, Hailing Zhang, Xuehao Jiao, Yanbo Zhang, Ge Yin, Cui Wang, Zengkan Du, Meng Liang, Xin Gao, Zhengsheng Gu, Yan Jiang, Bingying Du, Xiaoying Bi
{"title":"Dysregulations of C1QA, C1QB, C1QC and C5AR1 as candidate biomarkers of vascular dementia.","authors":"Yawen Xu, Hailing Zhang, Xuehao Jiao, Yanbo Zhang, Ge Yin, Cui Wang, Zengkan Du, Meng Liang, Xin Gao, Zhengsheng Gu, Yan Jiang, Bingying Du, Xiaoying Bi","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00228-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00228-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common cause of dementia. Few bioinformatic analysis has been done to explore its biomarkers. This study aimed to excavate potential biomarkers for VaD using bioinformatic analysis and validate them at both animal and patient levels. Based on microarray data of GSE122063, bioinformatic analysis revealed 502 DEGs in the frontal and 674 DEGs in the temporal cortex of VaD patients. Afterward, the hub genes between two regions, including C1QA, C1QB, C1QC, and C5AR1, were dugout. Interestingly, compared with sham mice or controls, the above four complements were highly expressed in the cortices of VaD animals and in the peripheral serum of VaD patients. Moreover, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis conformed to good diagnostic powers of these complements, with C1QB having the most prominent capacity (AUC = 0.799, 95%CI 0.722-0.875). That means the complements, especially subunits of C1Q, might be used as specific early VaD diagnostic biomarkers.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"42"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12104436/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144145387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00231-2
Andrew V Schally, George Theodoropoulos, Wei Sha, Irving Vidaurre, Medhi Wangpaichitr
{"title":"A 50-year journey in the development of treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia.","authors":"Andrew V Schally, George Theodoropoulos, Wei Sha, Irving Vidaurre, Medhi Wangpaichitr","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00231-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00231-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent research underscores the crucial role of hormone regulation in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and the therapeutic promise of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GH-RH) antagonists. BPH incidence in aging men doubled over three decades, driven by prostatic enlargement and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Aging-related changes in GH-RH and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) biology promote BPH through hormonal and inflammatory processes. Traditional therapies provide symptomatic relief but often fail to prevent progression. This review explores the 50-year extensive development of LH-RH and GH-RH peptide analogs from discovery to delivery and their potential in BPH treatment. In preclinical studies, GH-RH antagonists reduced prostate volume, improved LUTS, and modulated inflammation mediated by NF-κB and IGF-I. Clinical trials are needed to validate antagonist efficacy and safety. Given BPH's public health impact among the aged, and especially among aging Veterans, integrating GH-RH antagonists into management strategies may offer precision-based therapeutic advancements.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"41"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12102307/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00237-w
Dantong Zhu, Judy Z Wu, Patrick T Griffin, Brady A Samuelson, David A Sinclair, Alice E Kane
{"title":"Metabolomics biomarkers of frailty: a longitudinal study of aging female and male mice.","authors":"Dantong Zhu, Judy Z Wu, Patrick T Griffin, Brady A Samuelson, David A Sinclair, Alice E Kane","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00237-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00237-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Frailty is an age-related geriatric syndrome. We performed a longitudinal study of aging female (n = 40) and male (n = 47) C57BL/6NIA mice, measured frailty index and derived metabolomics data from plasma. We identify age-related differentially abundant metabolites, determine frailty-related metabolites, and generate frailty features, both in the whole cohort and sex-stratified subgroups. Using the features, we perform an association study and build a metabolomics-based frailty clock. We find that frailty-related metabolites are enriched for amino acid metabolism and metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, include ergothioneine, tryptophan and alpha-ketoglutarate, and present sex dimorphism. We identify B vitamin metabolism related flavin-adenine dinucleotide and pyridoxate as female-specific frailty biomarkers, and lipid metabolism related sphingomyelins, glycerophosphoethanolamine and glycerophosphocholine as male-specific frailty biomarkers. These associations are confirmed in a validation cohort, with ergothioneine and perfluorooctanesulfonate identified as robust frailty biomarkers. Our results identify sex-specific metabolite frailty biomarkers, and shed light on potential mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"40"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12102153/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00233-0
Kavita M Dhodapkar, Sharon Castellino, Shivani Kapadia, Maryam I Azeem, Ava Horvat, Taylor Lawrence, Deborah DeRyckere, Madhav V Dhodapkar
{"title":"Immune-aging at diagnosis determines T-cell recovery in childhood leukemia survivors.","authors":"Kavita M Dhodapkar, Sharon Castellino, Shivani Kapadia, Maryam I Azeem, Ava Horvat, Taylor Lawrence, Deborah DeRyckere, Madhav V Dhodapkar","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00233-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00233-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We show that T cells in survivors of childhood leukemia exhibit distinct profiles dominated by aging-associated changes and consistent with premature immune aging. Immune profiles during survivorship in biospecimens (n = 251) from uniformly-treated children with B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia recapitulate heterogeneity at diagnosis in individual patients and correlate with genetic-risk subtypes. These data suggest that pre-therapy immune aging may determine variance in immune status during survivorship.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"39"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12102316/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-22DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00236-x
Ronan Bennett, Marco Morselli, Kseniya Petrova, Leonid Peshkin, Matteo Pellegrini
{"title":"An epigenetic clock for Xenopus tropicalis.","authors":"Ronan Bennett, Marco Morselli, Kseniya Petrova, Leonid Peshkin, Matteo Pellegrini","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00236-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00236-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>DNA methylation clocks have been widely used for accurate age prediction, but most studies have been carried out on mammals. Here we present an epigenetic clock for the aquatic frog Xenopus tropicalis, a widely used model organism in developmental biology and genomics. To construct the clock, we collected DNA methylation data from 192 frogs using targeted bisulfite sequencing at genomic regions containing CpG sites previously shown to have age-associated methylation in Xenopus. We found highly positively and negatively age-correlated CpGs are enriched in heterochromatic regions marked with H4K20me3 and H3K9me3. Positively age-correlated CpGs are enriched in bivalent chromatin and gene bodies with H3K36me3, and tend to be proximal to lowly expressed genes. These epigenetic features of aging are similar to those found in mammals, suggesting evolutionary conservation of epigenetic aging mechanisms. Our clock enables future aging biology experiments that leverage the unique properties of amphibians.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"38"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12098715/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144129831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-19DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00229-w
Aleksey V Belikov, Angelo Talay, João Pedro de Magalhães
{"title":"Sex-specific insights into drug-induced lifespan extension and weight loss in mice.","authors":"Aleksey V Belikov, Angelo Talay, João Pedro de Magalhães","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00229-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-025-00229-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The DrugAge database serves as a comprehensive resource for studying compounds that increase lifespan in model organisms. In the latest version of DrugAge, we implemented multiple updates, predominantly focusing on mouse studies to enhance data accuracy and consistency. Key improvements include re-recording of mouse data from original sources, standardization of drug dosages to parts per million, and recording of administration routes, treatment initiation ages, and lifespans of controls. The user interface was also upgraded. Additionally, weight change data were included to address the potential impact of caloric restriction induced by drug administration on lifespan. Our analysis revealed significant correlations between weight loss and lifespan extension in male mice, particularly in studies conducted by the Interventions Testing Program, highlighting the importance of considering weight changes in lifespan studies. We also observed notable sex-related differences in lifespan and weight change responses, underscoring the need for sex-specific analyses in aging research.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"37"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12089533/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144103447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-14DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00223-2
Helena Pham, Thomas Svensson, Ung-Il Chung, Akiko Kishi Svensson
{"title":"Bidirectional association between physical activity and sleep in healthy Japanese super-seniors: the Japan Healthy Aging Study (J-HAS).","authors":"Helena Pham, Thomas Svensson, Ung-Il Chung, Akiko Kishi Svensson","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00223-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00223-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To address the challenges of an ageing population, it is important to promote health by identifying factors for healthy ageing. The aim of this study was to investigate the bidirectional association between physical activity (PA) and sleep in healthy Japanese super-seniors over the age of 80. For approximately 1 year, 124 participants wore wearable devices and answered daily lifestyle questionnaires. PA was defined as daily step count and minutes in light activity. Sleep was measured using 24-h total sleep time (TST) and time in bed (TIB). Associations were analysed bidirectionally using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models. Fully adjusted models revealed significant and inverse associations between sleep and PA from the same 24-h period. Similarly, the results were significant and inverse with PA from the day before as exposure and the next 24-h sleep measures as outcome. The between-individual associations between sleep measures and PA from the subsequent day were significant and inverse. However, there was a positive within-individual association between TST and step count from the subsequent day. The study suggests that associations between PA and sleep in super-seniors differ from patterns previously described in younger adults. Very old individuals with increasing 24-h total sleep time may compensate for a lower step count on one day by increasing their step count the following day.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"36"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12078698/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144083057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-10DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00227-y
Zeynep Elif Yesilyurt-Dirican, Ce Qi, Yi-Chian Wang, Annika Simm, Laura Deelen, Alia Hafiz Abbas Gasim, Fiona Lewis-McDougall, Georgina M Ellison-Hughes
{"title":"SGLT2 inhibitors as a novel senotherapeutic approach.","authors":"Zeynep Elif Yesilyurt-Dirican, Ce Qi, Yi-Chian Wang, Annika Simm, Laura Deelen, Alia Hafiz Abbas Gasim, Fiona Lewis-McDougall, Georgina M Ellison-Hughes","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00227-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00227-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cellular senescence is the permanent cessation of cell proliferation and growth. Senescent cells accumulating in tissues and organs with aging contribute to many chronic diseases, mainly through the secretion of a pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Senotherapeutic (senolytic or senomorphic) strategies targeting senescent cells or/and their SASP are being developed to prolong healthy lifespan and treat age-related pathologies. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a new class of anti-diabetic drugs that promote the renal excretion of glucose, resulting in lower blood glucose levels. Beyond their glucose-lowering effects, SGLT2 inhibitors have demonstrated protective effects against cardiovascular and renal events. Moreover, SGLT2 inhibitors have recently been associated with the inhibition of cell senescence, making them a promising therapeutic approach for targeting senescence and aging. This review examines the latest research on the senotherapeutic potential of SGLT2 inhibitors.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"35"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12065912/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144059647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2025-05-09DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00219-y
Elisabeth R M Heremans, Astrid Devulder, Pascal Borzée, Rik Vandenberghe, François-Laurent De Winter, Mathieu Vandenbulcke, Maarten Van Den Bossche, Bertien Buyse, Dries Testelmans, Wim Van Paesschen, Maarten De Vos
{"title":"Wearable sleep recording augmented by artificial intelligence for Alzheimer's disease screening.","authors":"Elisabeth R M Heremans, Astrid Devulder, Pascal Borzée, Rik Vandenberghe, François-Laurent De Winter, Mathieu Vandenbulcke, Maarten Van Den Bossche, Bertien Buyse, Dries Testelmans, Wim Van Paesschen, Maarten De Vos","doi":"10.1038/s41514-025-00219-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00219-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The recent emergence of wearable devices will enable large scale remote brain monitoring. This study investigated whether multimodal wearable sleep recordings could help screening for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Measurements were acquired simultaneously from polysomnography and a wearable device, measuring electroencephalography (EEG) and accelerometry (ACM) in 67 elderly without cognitive symptoms and 35 AD patients. Sleep staging was performed using an AI model (SeqSleepNet), followed by feature extraction from hypnograms and physiological signals. Using these features, a multi-layer perceptron was trained for AD detection, with elastic net identifying key features. The wearable AD detection model achieved an accuracy of 0.90 (0.76 for prodromal AD). Single-channel EEG and ACM physiological features captured sufficient information for AD detection and outperformed the hypnogram features, highlighting these physiological features as promising discriminative markers for AD. We conclude that wearable sleep monitoring augmented by AI shows promise towards non-invasive screening for AD in the older population.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"11 1","pages":"34"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12064732/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144061794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}