Project description:PurposeAtherosclerosis is the main cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Here, we aimed to uncover the role and mechanisms of fat mass and obesity-associated genes (FTO) in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) senescence in atherosclerotic plaques.MethodsApoE-/- mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) were used to establish an atherosclerotic animal model. Immunohistochemistry, and the staining of hematoxylin-eosin, Oil Red O, Sirius red, and Masson were performed to confirm the role of FTO in atherosclerosis in vivo. Subsequently, FTO expression in primary VSMCs is either upregulated or downregulated. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) was used to treat VSMCs, followed by EdU staining, flow cytometry, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining, immunofluorescence, telomere detection, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting to determine the molecular mechanisms by which FTO inhibits VSMC senescence.ResultsDecreased FTO expression was observed in progressive atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE-/- mice fed with HFD. FTO upregulation inhibits atherosclerotic lesions in mice. FTO inhibits VSMC aging in atherosclerotic plaques by helping VSMC withstand ox-LDL-induced cell cycle arrest and senescence. This process is achieved by stabilizing the MIS12 protein in VSMC through a proteasome-mediated pathway.ConclusionFTO inhibits VSMC senescence and subsequently slows the progression of atherosclerotic plaques by stabilizing the MIS12 protein.
Project description:N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) messenger RNA methylation is a well-known epitranscriptional regulatory mechanism affecting central biological processes, but its function in human cellular senescence remains uninvestigated. Here, we found that levels of both m6A RNA methylation and the methyltransferase METTL3 were reduced in prematurely senescent human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) models of progeroid syndromes. Transcriptional profiling of m6A modifications further identified MIS12, for which m6A modifications were reduced in both prematurely senescent hMSCs and METTL3-deficient hMSCs. Knockout of METTL3 accelerated hMSC senescence whereas overexpression of METTL3 rescued the senescent phenotypes. Mechanistically, loss of m6A modifications accelerated the turnover and decreased the expression of MIS12 mRNA while knockout of MIS12 accelerated cellular senescence. Furthermore, m6A reader IGF2BP2 was identified as a key player in recognizing and stabilizing m6A-modified MIS12 mRNA. Taken together, we discovered that METTL3 alleviates hMSC senescence through m6A modification-dependent stabilization of the MIS12 transcript, representing a novel epitranscriptional mechanism in premature stem cell senescence.
Project description:Thymic senescence contributes to increased incidence of infection, cancer and autoimmunity at senior ages. This process manifests as adipose involution. As with other adipose tissues, thymic adipose involution is also controlled by PPARgamma. This is supported by observations reporting that systemic PPARgamma activation accelerates thymic adipose involution. Therefore, we hypothesized that decreased PPARgamma activity could prevent thymic adipose involution, although it may trigger metabolic adverse effects. We have confirmed that both human and murine thymic sections show marked staining for PPARgamma at senior ages. We have also tested the thymic lobes of PPARgamma haplo-insufficient and null mice. Supporting our working hypothesis both adult PPARgamma haplo-insufficient and null mice show delayed thymic senescence by thymus histology, thymocyte mouse T-cell recombination excision circle qPCR and peripheral blood naive T-cell ratio by flow-cytometry. Delayed senescence showed dose-response with respect to PPARgamma deficiency. Functional immune parameters were also evaluated at senior ages in PPARgamma haplo-insufficient mice (null mice do not reach senior ages due to metabolic adverse affects). As expected, sustained and elevated T-cell production conferred oral tolerance and enhanced vaccination efficiency in senior PPARgamma haplo-insufficient, but not in senior wild-type littermates according to ELISA IgG measurements. Of note, humans also show increased oral intolerance issues and decreased protection by vaccines at senior ages. Moreover, PPARgamma haplo-insufficiency also exists in human known as a rare disease (FPLD3) causing metabolic adverse effects, similar to the mouse. When compared to age- and metabolic disorder-matched other patient samples (FPLD2 not affecting PPARgamma activity), FPLD3 patients showed increased human Trec (hTrec) values by qPCR (within healthy human range) suggesting delayed thymic senescence, in accordance with mouse results and supporting our working hypothesis. In summary, our experiments prove that systemic decrease of PPARgamma activity prevents thymic senescence, albeit with metabolic drawbacks. However, thymic tissue-specific PPARgamma antagonism would likely solve the issue.
Project description:Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is an NAD+-dependent deacetylase linked to a broad range of physiological and pathological processes, including aging and aging-related diseases. However, the role of SIRT3 in regulating human stem cell homeostasis remains unclear. Here we found that SIRT3 expression was downregulated in senescent human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated depletion of SIRT3 led to compromised nuclear integrity, loss of heterochromatin and accelerated senescence in hMSCs. Further analysis indicated that SIRT3 interacted with nuclear envelope proteins and heterochromatin-associated proteins. SIRT3 deficiency resulted in the detachment of genomic lamina-associated domains (LADs) from the nuclear lamina, increased chromatin accessibility and aberrant repetitive sequence transcription. The re-introduction of SIRT3 rescued the disorganized heterochromatin and the senescence phenotypes. Taken together, our study reveals a novel role for SIRT3 in stabilizing heterochromatin and counteracting hMSC senescence, providing new potential therapeutic targets to ameliorate aging-related diseases.
Project description:Zinc finger protein with KRAB and SCAN domains 3 (ZKSCAN3) has long been known as a master transcriptional repressor of autophagy. Here, we identify a novel role for ZKSCAN3 in alleviating senescence that is independent of its autophagy-related activity. Downregulation of ZKSCAN3 is observed in aged human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and depletion of ZKSCAN3 accelerates senescence of these cells. Mechanistically, ZKSCAN3 maintains heterochromatin stability via interaction with heterochromatin-associated proteins and nuclear lamina proteins. Further study shows that ZKSCAN3 deficiency results in the detachment of genomic lamina-associated domains (LADs) from the nuclear lamina, loss of heterochromatin, a more accessible chromatin status and consequently, aberrant transcription of repetitive sequences. Overexpression of ZKSCAN3 not only rescues premature senescence phenotypes in ZKSCAN3-deficient hMSCs but also rejuvenates physiologically and pathologically senescent hMSCs. Together, these data reveal for the first time that ZKSCAN3 functions as an epigenetic modulator to maintain heterochromatin organization and thereby attenuate cellular senescence. Our findings establish a new functional link among ZKSCAN3, epigenetic regulation, and stem cell aging.
Project description:Senescence is an important physiological process which directly affects many agronomic traits in plants. Senescence induces chlorophyll degradation, phytohormone changes, cellular structure damage, and altered gene regulation. Although these physiological outputs are well defined, the molecular mechanisms employed are not known. Using dark-induced leaf senescence (DILS) as the experimental system, we investigated the role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) mRNA methylation during senescence in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Plants compromised in m6A machinery components like METHYLTRANSFERASE A (mta mutant) and VIRILIZER1 (vir-1 mutant) showed an enhanced DILS phenotype. This was accompanied by compromised chloroplast and photosynthesis performance in mta as well as accumulation of senescence-promoting camalexin and phytohormone jasmonic acid after dark treatment. m6A levels increased during DILS and destabilized senescence-related transcripts thereby preventing premature aging. Due to inefficient decay, senescence-related transcripts like ORESARA1 (ORE1), SENESCENCE-ASSOCIATED GENE 21 (SAG21), NAC-like, activated by AP3/PI (NAP), and NONYELLOWING 1 (NYE1) over-accumulated in mta thereby causing accelerated senescence during DILS. Overall, our data propose that m6A modification is involved in regulating the biological response to senescence in plants, providing targets for engineering stress tolerance of crops.
Project description:ObjectiveSingle-nucleotide polymorphisms in the FTO gene encoding an m6Am and an m6A demethylase are associated with obesity. Moreover, recent studies have linked a dysregulation of m6A modifications and its machinery, including FTO, to the development of several forms of cancers. However, the functional role of hepatic FTO in metabolism and the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a proteotypic obesity-associated cancer, remains unclear. Thus, we aimed to reveal the role of hepatic FTO in metabolism and in the initiation and progression of HCC in vivo.MethodsWe generated mice with hepatic FTO deficiency (FTOL-KO). The effect of hepatic FTO on metabolism was investigated by extensive metabolic phenotyping. To determine the impact of hepatic FTO on HCC development, FTOL-KO and Ctrl mice were subjected to long-term diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC-development and the tumor initiation phase was examined via a short-term DEN protocol.ResultsIn long-term DEN experiments, FTOL-KO mice exhibit increased HCC burden compared to Ctrl mice. In the tumor initiation phase, Ctrl mice display a dynamic regulation of FTO upon induction of liver damage, while this response is abrogated in FTO-deficient mice. Proteomic analyses revealed that liver damage-induced increases in FTO expression reduce CUL4A protein abundance. Functionally, simultaneous knockdown of Cul4a reverses the increased hepatocyte proliferation observed upon loss of FTO.ConclusionCollectively, our study demonstrates that hepatic FTO is dispensable for the control of energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism. However, we show a protective function of FTO in liver carcinogenesis and suggest the FTO-dependent dynamic mRNA demethylation of Cul4a in the initiation of HCC development contributes to this effect.
Project description:Aging is accompanied by a decreased DNA repair capacity, which might contribute to age-associated functional decline in multiple tissues. Disruption in hormone signaling, associated with reproductive organ dysfunction, is an early event of age-related tissue degeneration, but whether it impacts DNA repair in non-reproductive organs remains elusive. Using skin fibroblasts derived from healthy donors with a broad age range, we show here that the downregulation of expression of XRCC4, a factor involved in nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair, which is the dominant pathway to repair somatic double-strand breaks, is mediated through transcriptional mechanisms. We show that the androgen receptor (AR), whose expression is also reduced during aging, directly binds to and enhances the activity of the XRCC4 promoter, facilitating XRCC4 transcription and thus stabilizing the genome. We also demonstrate that dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a powerful AR agonist, restores XRCC4 expression and stabilizes the genome in different models of cellular aging. Moreover, DHT treatment reverses senescence-associated phenotypes, opening a potential avenue to aging interventions in the future.
Project description:Although the mTOR-4E-BP1 signaling pathway is implicated in aging and aging-related disorders, the role of 4E-BP1 in regulating human stem cell homeostasis remains largely unknown. Here, we report that the expression of 4E-BP1 decreases along with the senescence of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Genetic inactivation of 4E-BP1 in hMSCs compromises mitochondrial respiration, increases mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and accelerates cellular senescence. Mechanistically, the absence of 4E-BP1 destabilizes proteins in mitochondrial respiration complexes, especially several key subunits of complex III including UQCRC2. Ectopic expression of 4E-BP1 attenuates mitochondrial abnormalities and alleviates cellular senescence in 4E-BP1-deficient hMSCs as well as in physiologically aged hMSCs. These f indings together demonstrate that 4E-BP1 functions as a geroprotector to mitigate human stem cell senescence and maintain mitochondrial homeostasis, particularly for the mitochondrial respiration complex III, thus providing a new potential target to counteract human stem cell senescence.
Project description:Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is an NAD+-dependent deacetylase involved in various physiological and pathological processes. However, the role of SIRT3 in regulating human stem cell senescence remains largely unknown. Here, we observed the downregulated expression of SIRT3 in senescent human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). SIRT3 deficiency accelerated cellular senescence in hMSCs, along with compromised nuclear integrity, loss of heterochromatin and increased DNA damage. These aging-associated nuclear defects were attenuated by the reintroduction of SIRT3. Mechanistic studies demonstrated the interaction of SIRT3 with nuclear envelope proteins and heterochromatin-associated proteins. Further findings revealed that SIRT3 deficiency led to the loss of lamina-associated domains (LADs) from the nuclear lamina, increased chromatin accessibility and aberrant transcription of repetitive sequences. Meanwhile, the overexpression of nuclear-localized SIRT3 rescued the senescence phenotypes. Taken together, our study reveals a novel role of nuclear SIRT3 in stabilizing heterochromatin and counteracting hMSC senescence, which may provide new clinical therapeutic targets to ameliorate aging-related diseases.