The central role of DNA damage in the ageing process

Björn Schumacher; Joris Pothof; Jan Vijg; Jan H.J. Hoeijmakers

doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03307-7

The central role of DNA damage in the ageing process

Björn Schumacher^*, Joris Pothof, Jan Vijg, Jan H.J. Hoeijmakers

^*Corresponding author for this work

Molecular Genetics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

122 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ageing is a complex, multifaceted process leading to widespread functional decline that affects every organ and tissue, but it remains unknown whether ageing has a unifying causal mechanism or is grounded in multiple sources. Phenotypically, the ageing process is associated with a wide variety of features at the molecular, cellular and physiological level—for example, genomic and epigenomic alterations, loss of proteostasis, declining overall cellular and subcellular function and deregulation of signalling systems. However, the relative importance, mechanistic interrelationships and hierarchical order of these features of ageing have not been clarified. Here we synthesize accumulating evidence that DNA damage affects most, if not all, aspects of the ageing phenotype, making it a potentially unifying cause of ageing. Targeting DNA damage and its mechanistic links with the ageing phenotype will provide a logical rationale for developing unified interventions to counteract age-related dysfunction and disease.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	695-703
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature
Volume	592
Issue number	7856
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03307-7
Publication status	Published - 28 Apr 2021

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements: The research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(SCHU 2494/3-1, SCHU 2494/7-1, SCHU 2494/10-1, SCHU 2494/11-1, KFO 286, KFO 329, GRK
2407 to B.S., and CECAD EXC 2030–390661388, SFB 829 to B.S. and J.H.J.H.), Deutsche
Krebshilfe (70112899), H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018 (Healthage and ADDRESS ITNs) and John
Templeton Foundation Grant (61734) to B.S., NIH grants (PO1 AG017242 to J.V. and J.H., and U19
AG056278, U01 ES029519, P01AG047200, U01HL145560, P30AG038072 to J.V.), European
Research Council Advanced Grants DamAge and Dam2Age, ONCODE (Dutch Cancer Society),
Memorabel and Chembridge (ZonMW) and BBoL (NWO-ENW) to J.P. and J.H.

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Springer Nature Limited.

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abstract = "Ageing is a complex, multifaceted process leading to widespread functional decline that affects every organ and tissue, but it remains unknown whether ageing has a unifying causal mechanism or is grounded in multiple sources. Phenotypically, the ageing process is associated with a wide variety of features at the molecular, cellular and physiological level—for example, genomic and epigenomic alterations, loss of proteostasis, declining overall cellular and subcellular function and deregulation of signalling systems. However, the relative importance, mechanistic interrelationships and hierarchical order of these features of ageing have not been clarified. Here we synthesize accumulating evidence that DNA damage affects most, if not all, aspects of the ageing phenotype, making it a potentially unifying cause of ageing. Targeting DNA damage and its mechanistic links with the ageing phenotype will provide a logical rationale for developing unified interventions to counteract age-related dysfunction and disease.",

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The central role of DNA damage in the ageing process

Abstract

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