title: Inflammation and immune system activation in aging: a mathematical approach.
abstract: Memory and learning declines are consequences of normal aging. Since those functions are associated with the hippocampus, I analyzed the global gene expression data from post-mortem hippocampal tissue of 25 old (age ≥ 60 yrs) and 15 young (age ≤ 45 yrs) cognitively intact human subjects. By employing a rigorous, multi-method bioinformatic approach, I identified 36 genes that were the most significant in terms of differential expression; and by employing mathematical modeling, I demonstrated that 7 of the 36 genes were able to discriminate between the old and young subjects with high accuracy. Remarkably, 90% of the known genes from those 36 most significant genes are associated with either inflammation or immune system activation. This suggests that chronic inflammation and immune system over-activity may underlie the aging process of the human brain, and that potential anti-inflammatory treatments targeting those genes may slow down this process and alleviate its symptoms.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA [2] Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Jason B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Nikas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000378:metabolism*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012372:ROC Curve