Abstract
The availability of reliable biomarkers of aging is important not only to monitor the effect of interventions and predict the timing of pathologies associated with aging but also to understand the mechanisms and devise appropriate countermeasures. Blood cells provide an easily available tissue and gene expression profiles from whole blood samples appear to mirror disease states and some aspects of the aging process itself. We report here a microarray analysis of whole blood samples from two cohorts of healthy adult and elderly subjects, aged 43±3 and 68±4 years, respectively, to monitor gene expression changes in the initial phase of the senescence process. A number of significant changes were found in the elderly compared to the adult group, including decreased levels of transcripts coding for components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which correlate with a parallel decline in the maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max), as monitored in the same subjects. In addition, blood cells show age-related changes in the expression of several markers of immunosenescence, inflammation and oxidative stress. These findings support the notion that the immune system has a major role in tissue homeostasis and repair, which appears to be impaired since early stages of the aging process.
Highlights
The demonstration that some disease states are mirrored by gene expression profiles in blood cells has stimulated the analyses of gene expression changes in blood cells in different physiological and pathological conditions, including aging [1, 2]
Another study was focused on the identification of genes related to increased longevity and compared gene expression profiles in blood cells from nonagenarians with their middle-age offspring using the partners of the offspring as population controls [4]
In agreement with previous studies the two groups had significantly different values of glucose and C reactive protein (CRP) [20, 21], which were significantly higher in the elderly (Table1)
Summary
The demonstration that some disease states are mirrored by gene expression profiles in blood cells has stimulated the analyses of gene expression changes in blood cells in different physiological and pathological conditions, including aging [1, 2]. A number of studies focused on candidate genes, while others used a genome-wide approach, such as microarray analyses, that provide an unbiased way to investigate the expression of the whole transcriptome. Age-related changes have been the object of a limited number of microarray analyses, the different designs of available studies does not allow one to draw definitive conclusions about the existence of a specific “aging-signature” in blood cells. We report here a study on the effect of aging in whole blood cells in a selected cohort of healthy subjects from two specific age groups, taking advantage of different bioinformatics approaches for data analysis. Another study was focused on the identification of genes related to increased longevity and compared gene expression profiles in blood cells from nonagenarians with their middle-age offspring using the partners of the offspring as population controls [4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
