0000000000897225
AUTHOR
Jacek M. Witkowski
CALPAIN ACTIVITY MAINTAINS GOOD HEALTH OF CENTENARIAN T CELLS; SUMMARY OF THE CALPACENT PROJECT
Causes of aging-associated deterioration of human immunity, and the reasons why the immune system of the oldest old individuals (centenarians) is relatively robust, remain moot. Intracellular proteolysis system of two proteases – µ- and m-calpain – and their inhibitor – calpastatin (the calpain-calpastatin system (CCS)) - is active in resting human peripheral blood T cells, participating in maintenance of their readiness to proliferate and secrete cytokines in response to stimulation. The amounts of the CCS proteins decrease in resting T lymphocytes of healthy elderly, only to return in the centenarians to those levels seen in the young individuals. We compared the calpain activities and th…
Pathophysiology of ageing, longevity and age related diseases
Abstract On April 18, 2007 an international meeting on Pathophysiology of Ageing, Longevity and Age-Related Diseases was held in Palermo, Italy. Several interesting topics on Cancer, Immunosenescence, Age-related inflammatory diseases and longevity were discussed. In this report we summarize the most important issues. However, ageing must be considered an unavoidable end point of the life history of each individual, nevertheless the increasing knowledge on ageing mechanisms, allows envisaging many different strategies to cope with, and delay it. So, a better understanding of pathophysiology of ageing and age-related disease is essential for giving everybody a reasonable chance for living a …
Expression of calpain-calpastatin system (CCS) member proteins in human lymphocytes of young and elderly individuals; pilot baseline data for the CALPACENT project
Abstract Background Ubiquitous system of regulatory, calcium-dependent, cytoplasmic proteases – calpains – and their endogenous inhibitor – calpastatin – is implicated in the proteolytic regulation of activation, proliferation, and apoptosis of many cell types. However, it has not been thoroughly studied in resting and activated human lymphocytes yet, especially in relation to the subjects’ ageing process. The CALPACENT project is an international (Polish-Italian) project aiming at verifying the hypothesis of the role of calpains in the function of peripheral blood immune cells of Polish (Pomeranian) and Italian (Sicilian) centenarians, apparently relatively preserved in comparison to the g…