Researchers have shown that quercetin-coated nanoparticles can selectively target and eliminate harmful aging cells. Aging cells do not divide or support the tissues of which they are a part. Instead, they emit a series of potentially harmful chemical signals that encourage nearby healthy cells to enter the same state of aging. Their presence causes many problems: they reduce tissue repair, increase chronic inflammation and can ultimately increase the risk of cancer and other age-related diseases. Aging cells are normally destroyed through a programmed process called apoptosis and are also removed by the immune system. However, the immune system weakens with age, and an increasing number of aging cells escape this process and begin to accumulate in all tissues of the body. In old age, a significant number of these aging cells have accumulated, causing chronic inflammation and damage to the surrounding cells and tissues. These aging cells are a key process in the development of aging.
Aging cells make up only a small number of total cells in the body, but secrete pre-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and extracellular matrix proteases, which together form the secretory phenotype associated with aging, or SASP ..Senescence-Associated which contributes significantly to aging and cancer. Therefore, targeting aging cells and removing them has been suggested as a possible solution to this problem.
Quercetin is a natural plant polyphenol, a class that often has poor water solubility, chemical instability or poor bioavailability that make it unreliable for aging treatment. We have seen in previous mouse studies and recent human trials at the Mayo Clinic that quercetin, when used in combination with the cancer drug dasatinib, may be the basis for an effective treatment to eradicate aging cells. Unfortunately, quercetin alone does not have a significant aging effect, which is probably due to its limitations as a polyphenol. However, there are ways to overcome these issues with quercetin and other similar polyphenols, polymer nanoparticles, lipid-based carriers, inclusion complexes, micelles, and conjugate-based delivery systems that can deliver molecules more efficiently are suggested. The researchers chose to use nanoparticles to transport quercetin molecules to aging cells to destroy them. They created magnetite nanoparticles and coated their surface with quercetin molecules, then tested the aging effect of this approach. They found that the nanoparticles were effective in reducing inflammatory signals, such as interleukin-8 {IL-8} and interferon-beta {IFN-ß}, which were secreted by aging cells and found that cells that were forced to of nanoparticles and that the secretion of inflammatory signals decreased. This led to increased activity of activated protein kinase (AMPK) a critical enzyme that detects the energy present in all mammalian cells and maintains its homeostasis.
When activated, it facilitates energy production processes, such as glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation, while reducing energy consumption processes, such as the synthesis of proteins and lipids. AMPK is one of the four pathways that control our metabolism and its deregulation is a suggested reason why we age and develop metabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Cellular aging can contribute to aging and age-related diseases and aging drugs that selectively kill aging cells can delay aging and promote health. More recently, several classes of senescents have been introduced, namely HSP90 inhibitors, Bcl-2 family inhibitors, and natural compounds such as quercetin and physetin. Quercetin surface-acting nanoparticles (MNPQs) were administered during oxidative stress-induced aging in human fibroblasts in vitro. MNPQ promoted AMPK activity accompanied by non-apoptotic cell death and reduced senescence l senescence / lytic}-induced aging cells and suppression of the aging-related pro-inflammatory response (reduced levels of IL-8 In short, MNPQ can be considered a promising candidate for anti-aging treatments.
They found that the nanoparticles were effective in reducing inflammatory signals, such as interleukin-8 {IL-8} and interferon-beta {IFN-ß}, which were secreted by aging cells and found that cells that were forced to of nanoparticles and that the secretion of inflammatory signals decreased. This led to increased activity of activated protein kinase (AMPK) a critical enzyme that detects the energy present in all mammalian cells and maintains its homeostasis. When activated, it facilitates energy production processes, such as glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation, while reducing energy consumption processes, such as the synthesis of proteins and lipids. AMPK is one of the four pathways that control our metabolism and its deregulation is a suggested reason why we age and develop metabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Cellular aging can contribute to aging and age-related diseases and aging drugs that selectively kill aging cells can delay aging and promote health. More recently, several classes of senescents have been introduced, namely HSP90 inhibitors, Bcl-2 family inhibitors, and natural compounds such as quercetin and physetin.
Quercetin surface-acting nanoparticles (MNPQs) were administered during oxidative stress-induced aging in human fibroblasts in vitro. MNPQ promoted AMPK activity accompanied by non-apoptotic cell death and reduced senescence l senescence / lytic}-induced aging cells and suppression of the aging-related pro-inflammatory response (reduced levels of IL-8 In short, MNPQ can be considered a promising candidate for anti-aging treatments based on senolytic {senescence / lytic} and senostatic {senescence / static}.
NOTE: Fistetin, apigenin and similar polyphenols are all potential candidates for this approach and could open the door to new and cost-effective treatments.
SOURCE: LIFESPAN October 2019
