Project description:Senescent is an irreversible form of cell cycle arrest initiated by damaged cell constituents and subsequent pro-oncogenic signaling. Replicative senescence in vitro can be considered a model for human aging. When fibroblasts are cultured under atmospheric oxygen conditions of 20%, typical of normal tissue culture procedure, fibroblasts generally reach their replicative capacity at 50-60 population doublings (PDs). When fibroblasts are cultured under normal physiological oxygen conditions of 3%, PDs increase about 30% relative to atmospheric levels. Hence while oxygen is a requirement for normal aerobic respiration, it can contribute to the total amount of oxidative stress to which cells are exposed to, leading to a long-term adverse effect in vitro. Inasmuch, cultures maintained under hyperoxic and hypoxic conditions provide a convenient model system for assessing the relationship between oxygen/oxidative stress and senescence. We used microarrays to profile the changes in global gene expression during aging and senescence of Imr90 cells under growth oxygen conditions of 3% and 20%. Imr90 cells at various population doubling timepoints (young, old, and senescent) grown separately under 3 and 20% oxygen growth conditions were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Timepoints from cells grown under 3% and 20% oxygen conditions were age matched via population doublings to ensure accurate cross sample comparison.
Project description:Senescent human fibroblasts were compared to young proliferating fibroblasts. Five different cell lines were compared. Illumina sequencing (HiSeq2000) was applied to generate 50bp single-end reads. Jena Centre for Systems Biology of Ageing - JenAge (www.jenage.de)
Project description:Senescence emerged as a significant mechanism of aging and age-related diseases, offering an attractive target for clinical intervention. Senescent cells release senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), including exosomes that may act as signal transducers between distal tissues, propagating secondary senescence and signaling throughout the body. However, the composition of exosome SASP remains underexplored, presenting an opportunity for novel unbiased discovery. Here, we present a detailed lipidomic analysis of exosome SASP using mass spectrometry from senescent primary human lung fibroblasts and human plasma from young and older individuals.
Project description:We utilized whole genome sequencing of mRNA (RNA-seq) to understand the extent to which the senescence-associated secretory phenotype is regulated by p38MAPK Examination of replicates of young, senescent or p38MAPK-inhibited senescent BJ human foreskin fibroblasts.
Project description:Alterations in the tissue microenvironment collaborate with cell autonomous genetic changes to contribute to neoplastic progression. The importance of the microenvironment in neoplastic progression is underscored by studies demonstrating that fibroblasts isolated from a tumor stimulate the growth of preneoplastic and neoplastic cells in xenograft models. Similarly, senescent fibroblasts promote preneoplastic cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Because senescent cells accumulate with age, their presence is hypothesized to facilitate preneoplastic cell growth and tumor formation in older individuals. To identify senescent stromal factors directly responsible for stimulating preneoplastic cell growth, we carried out whole genome transcriptional profiling and compared senescent fibroblasts to their younger counterparts. We identified osteopontin (OPN) as one of the most highly elevated transcripts in senescent fibroblasts. Importantly, reduction of OPN protein levels by RNAi did not impact senescence induction in fibroblasts; however, it dramatically reduced the growth-promoting activities of senescent fibroblasts in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that OPN is necessary for paracrine stimulation of preneoplastic cell growth. In addition, we found that recombinant OPN was sufficient to stimulate preneoplastic cell growth. Finally, we demonstrate that OPN is expressed in senescent stroma within preneoplastic lesions that arise following DMBA/TPA treatment of mice, suggesting that stromal-derived OPN-mediated signaling events impact neoplastic progression. Experiment Overall Design: Human foreskin BJ fibroblasts were mock or Bleomycin sulfate-treated (100ug/ml, Sigma, St. Louis, MO) for 24 hrs. Replicatively senescent fibroblasts were obtained by continuous passage. After 72 hr serum-starvation, RNA was collected using TRIzol (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Biotinylated cRNA was hybridized to Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 GeneChips (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) by the Washington University Microarray Facility. Experiment Overall Design: There were 4, 6, and 6 samples for SIPS, RS, and young respectively: Experiment Overall Design: - Stress-induced premature senescence (GSM336347..GSM336379) Experiment Overall Design: - Replicative Senescent (GSM336385..GSM336573) Experiment Overall Design: - Young (GSM336574..GSM336628) Experiment Overall Design: Microarray quality control, analysis, and clustering (UPGMA by Centroid) were performed using dChip (May, 2008 release). All GeneChip comparisons had a cut-off basis of a lower bound of 90% confidence of fold-change â?¥1.5 and expression intensity difference â?¥75.
Project description:small RNA gene expression profiles of senescent human fibroblasts were compared to young proliferating fibroblasts. RNA-seq data comprises 5 groups: 16, 26, 46, 64 and 74 population doublings of HFF fibroblasts. Jena Centre for Systems Biology of Ageing - JenAge (www.jenage.de)
Project description:Older age is one of the strongest risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Here, we sought to determine whether age-associated cellular senescence contributes to the severity of COVID-19 by studying the well-established golden hamster model of SARS-CoV-2-driven lung disease. We found that aged hamsters (22 months of age) accumulate senescent cells in the lungs and that the senolytic drug ABT-263, a B cell lymphoma-2 family inhibitor, depletes these cells at baseline and during a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Relative to young hamsters (2 months of age), aged hamsters had a greater viral load during the acute phase of infection and displayed higher levels of sequelae during the post-acute phase. Interestingly, early treatment with ABT-263 was associated with a significantly lower pulmonary viral load, an effect associated with lower expression of angiotensin converting enzyme 2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, and an amelioration of COVID-19-like lung disease in aged (but not young) animals. ABT-263 treatment of aged animals was also associated with lower pulmonary and systemic levels of senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors. Furthermore, early removal of senescent cells reduced the longer-term pulmonary inflammation. These data demonstrate the causative role of age-associated pre-existing senescent cells on the pathologic severity of experimental COVID-19. As several senolytics have recently moved into early-stage clinical trials, our present findings have clear clinical relevance.
Project description:Older age is one of the strongest risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Here, we sought to determine whether age-associated cellular senescence contributes to the severity of COVID-19 by studying the well-established golden hamster model of SARS-CoV-2-driven lung disease. We found that aged hamsters (22 months of age) accumulate senescent cells in the lungs and that the senolytic drug ABT-263, a B cell lymphoma-2 family inhibitor, depletes these cells at baseline and during a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Relative to young hamsters (2 months of age), aged hamsters had a greater viral load during the acute phase of infection and displayed higher levels of sequelae during the post-acute phase. Interestingly, early treatment with ABT-263 was associated with a significantly lower pulmonary viral load, an effect associated with lower expression of angiotensin converting enzyme 2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, and an amelioration of COVID-19-like lung disease in aged (but not young) animals. ABT-263 treatment of aged animals was also associated with lower pulmonary and systemic levels of senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors. Furthermore, early removal of senescent cells reduced the longer-term pulmonary inflammation. These data demonstrate the causative role of age-associated pre-existing senescent cells on the pathologic severity of experimental COVID-19. As several senolytics have recently moved into early-stage clinical trials, our present findings have clear clinical relevance.
Project description:Noncoding RNAs include small transcripts, such as microRNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs, and a wide range of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Although many lncRNAs have been identified, only a small number of lncRNAs have been characterized functionally. Here, we sought to identify lncRNAs differentially expressed during replicative senescence. We compared lncRNAs expressed in proliferating, early-passage, 'young' human diploid WI-38 fibroblasts [population doubling (PDL) 20] with those expressed in senescent, late-passage, 'old' fibroblasts (PDL 52) by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Numerous transcripts in all lncRNA groups (antisense lncRNAs, pseudogene-encoded lncRNAs, previously described lncRNAs and novel lncRNAs) were validated using reverse transcription (RT) and real-time, quantitative (q)PCR. Among the novel senescence-associated lncRNAs (SAL-RNAs) showing lower abundance in senescent cells, SAL-RNA1 (XLOC_023166) was found to delay senescence, because reducing SAL-RNA1 levels enhanced the appearance of phenotypic traits of senescence, including an enlarged morphology, positive β-galactosidase activity, and heightened p53 levels. Our results reveal that the expression of known and novel lncRNAs changes with senescence and suggests that SAL-RNAs play direct regulatory roles in this important cellular process. RNA was extracted from both young and senescent WI-38 cells and used for total RNA-Seq.