Removing Glucosepane crosslinks from tissue is one of the most important things groups like SENS Research Foundation are doing and their progress relies on our support.
In this interesting open access paper, the authors propose that too little attention has been given to immune cell behavior in tissues rather than in blood, and that means that researchers have overlooked the possibility that age-related changes in the extracellular matrix structures that support tissues might be a significant cause of the growing immune dysfunction that takes place in later life. One of the more important of these changes in the extracellular matrix is the growing presence of cross-links, persistent sugary compounds produced as a byproduct of normal metabolic operations that chain together the large molecules of the extracellular matrix. In doing so these cross-links change the chemical and structural properties of the matrix and the tissue as a whole, producing results such as loss of elasticity in skin and blood vessels, which in turn contribute to a variety of age-related diseases. If cross-linking does indeed contribute to immunosenescence, the decline of the immune system with age, then that only increases the importance of ongoing research funded by the SENS Research Foundation aimed at safely breaking down this unwanted form of metabolic waste. In humans near all persistent cross-links appear to involve a single class of compound, glucosepane. So in theory there is only a single target here, needing just one drug development program to make a large difference to long-term health and longevity.