Aging Intervention Studies

National Institute On Aging

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Within this program several studies are on-going 1. Multi-omics across the lifespan Omics-based assays can be used to study the complex interactions between multiple genetic and environmental factors that occur during aging and the pathogenesis of disease. These approaches can be used to develop diagnostic and therapeutic targets for treatment. The Core rhesus colony spans the average lifespan and provides a unique resource for a multi-omics approach to generate a multi-tissue profile associated with health status and biomarker development. This project will improve our understanding of the connectivity of the various omics components and will help identify important biological connections to disease and aging. 2. Treating pre-diabetes in NHPs Type II diabetes mellitus occurs spontaneously in aging rhesus monkey colonies at rates approximating those of the human population. An increasing incidence of diabetes among humans has led to rapid growth in the number of FDA approved treatments available for clinical use. However, managing diabetes in the research setting has not been expanded to include newer clinical treatments. We will evaluate outcome measures to compare some of the more commonly used human medications to improve long-term management for monkeys. 3. Novel target for epigenetic regulation of obesity Obesity caused by lifestyle, epigenetic changes, or genetic susceptibility is a major independent risk factor for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. Many of the drugs developed for treating obesity over the last 20 years, acting on either the central nervous system or gut hormones, have been withdrawn from the market due to the increased risk of cardiovascular and psychiatric complication. And the drugs currently being marketed are not without side effects. Therefore, the development of novel mechanism-mediated therapeutics for obesity is of paramount need. The goal of this project is to establish a novel concept that a specific enzyme is an important epigenetic regulator of obesity and target it as an effective and safe anti-obesity therapy.