title: Aging: a portrait from gene expression profile in blood cells.
abstract: The availability of reliable biomarkers of aging is important not only to monitor the effect of interventions and predict the timing of pathologies associated with aging but also to understand the mechanisms and devise appropriate countermeasures. Blood cells provide an easily available tissue and gene expression profiles from whole blood samples appear to mirror disease states and some aspects of the aging process itself. We report here a microarray analysis of whole blood samples from two cohorts of healthy adult and elderly subjects, aged 43±3 and 68±4 years, respectively, to monitor gene expression changes in the initial phase of the senescence process. A number of significant changes were found in the elderly compared to the adult group, including decreased levels of transcripts coding for components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which correlate with a parallel decline in the maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max), as monitored in the same subjects. In addition, blood cells show age-related changes in the expression of several markers of immunosenescence, inflammation and oxidative stress. These findings support the notion that the immune system has a major role in tissue homeostasis and repair, which appears to be impaired since early stages of the aging process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Calabria
authors.affiliation: Department Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilia Maria Cristina
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.affiliation: VIMM, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.|Present address: Molecular Endocrinology, Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany.
authors.forename: Kenneth Allen
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dyar
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pogliaghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruseghini
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian Luca
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Salvagno
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gelati
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian Cesare
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.affiliation: Department Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bicciato
authors.affiliation: VIMM, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schiaffino
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schena
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.|Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Department of Physical Performance, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D015415:Biomarkers; D001773:Blood Cells; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000235:genetics; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000235:genetics; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: aging; blood cells; exercise; immunosenescence; microarray