Mild, persistent inflammation in tissue is considered one of the biological hallmarks of the aging process in humans—and at the same time is a risk factor for diseases such as Alzheimer’s or cancer.
Scientists found that at the molecular level the regulatory network drives the general, multiple-organ inflammatory response.
Moreover, they were able to show that dietary restriction can influence this regulatory circuit, thereby inhibiting inflammation.
Inflammation is an immune response of the body that is, in itself, useful: our immune system uses it to fight pathogens or to remove damaged cells from tissue.
Once the immune cells have done their work, the inflammation subsides: the infection is over, and the wound is healed.
Unlike such acute inflammations, age-related chronic inflammation is not local.
In previous research, the team investigated how the chronic inflammation that accompanies aging is regulated and maintained by genes—and whether calorie restriction in diets can influence this regulatory network and inhibit inflammation.
Indeed, studies over the past two decades have shown that various animals—from flies to worms to rodents to monkeys—live longer when fed a diet that reduces caloric intake.
For example, when mice were fed 30% less food, they were fitter, more active, and lived three to four months longer—the equivalent of a 10% to 15% increase in life span.
Improved health has also been observed in humans on calorie-restricted diets. It is also known that inflammatory responses can be reduced by this dietary approach.
For their current study, the team found that the inflammatory stage in older mice was characterized by the upregulation of a specific set of genes that encodes receptors of the innate immune system.
This upregulation leads to the activation of a set of interferon-regulating genes. And these genes then activate other genes that produce inflammatory cytokines.
This entire process is like a positive feedback loop that keeps the inflammatory state going.
The team also found whether the caloric restrictions were short- or long-term, overall the diet had a positive effect on all organs, with the exception of the heart.
With their work, the researchers also provide starting points for future drug therapies for aging-related chronic inflammation.
The team says another possibility for intervention is the administration of dietary supplements such as vitamins or probiotics with the aim of influencing the composition of microorganisms in the digestive tract.
The dietary restriction appears to change the microbiome, which leads to reduced inflammation.
If it is possible to change the intestinal flora of the microbiome through dietary supplements, the same beneficial effects could be achieved without the need for a restricted diet.
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The study was conducted by Prof. Francesco Neri et al and published in Cell Reports.
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