The dominance of old blood, and age-related increase in protein production and noise

Abstract

This concise review provides new perspectives on systemic reduction of tissue aging by comparing different strategies, such as heterochronic parabiosis, injections of young blood plasma, neutral blood exchange (NBE) and therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE). Unlike previous literature that primarily discusses the need for young blood factors, we emphasize the potential of diluting age-elevated proteins as the way to re-calibrate systemic proteome to its younger state without donor blood. Furthermore, we introduce modulation of proteome noise, as an important part of understanding tissue aging and as a critical mechanism for tissue rejuvenation. We discuss studies on the dominance of aged systemic milieu in promoting progeric phenotypes in young cells, in vitro, and in multiple tissues of young animals, in vivo. We support our arguments with evidence showing a significant age-related increase in protein synthesis, in noise of newly synthesized proteomes, and in the rapid induction of these aging phenotypes in young muscle by exposure to aged tissue. We summarize the significance of these findings for future research on aging and longevity.