Russian Scientists Have Managed to Tackle Kidney Aging
Researchers at Moscow State University studied aging and its impact on key cellular processes (autophagy, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress). They also presented promising treatments for age-related kidney failure.
Researchers at Moscow State University have studied aging and its impact on key cellular processes (autophagy, the work of mitochondria - the "power stations of cells" - and oxidative stress), reports "Lenta.RU". At the same time, promising treatments for age-related kidney failure were announced. It is known that during autophagy, cells break down and recycle their damaged components. It is activated in certain types of acute kidney failure, sepsis, and ischemic kidney disease. As the body ages, the efficiency of autophagy declines. As a result, oxidized proteins and damaged cell elements, including mitochondria, accumulate. Consequently, defective proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and various cellular organelles build up in the kidneys of elderly people. It has been proven that dietary restriction (fasting-diet therapy) activates autophagy processes and reduces age-related pathological changes in the kidney. For example, a short-term reduction of food intake by 30-40% over several weeks may increase the kidney's resistance to developing acute kidney failure. There are also medications that mimic caloric reduction (rapamycin). Scientists are also betting on therapy specifically targeting mitochondria. It is no secret that in acute kidney failure even mitochondria in cells of a young body are heavily damaged, and aging itself leads to mitochondrial dysfunction. From this perspective, mitochondria-targeted antioxidants have shown good results - the specific mitochondrial ROS acceptor (Mito TEMPO), SS-31 peptides, and SkQ-group compounds developed at Moscow State University.
According to "Mail.RU News", staff at the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories have identified a new HIV strain for the first time since 2000. It was found in the bodies of three residents of the Congo. It belongs to the most widespread and dangerous group M (from main) of HIV-1. The strain has been assigned subtype L. According to scientists, this discovery will help understand how the virus has evolved and spread. Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that developers of HIV vaccines should take into account all possible subtypes of the virus rather than focus only on one. At the same time, according to him, the discovery must be considered when creating vaccines. In any case, a maximally universal vaccine is required, since one subtype may be replaced by another in a few years. "There is nothing surprising in discovering new HIV strains and subtypes, since the virus can change. There are many strains in Africa, and different ones have spread to different countries; for example, strain A is the most prevalent in Russia", says Pokrovsky.