The accumulation of cellular damage, including DNA damage, is thought to contribute to aging-related degenerative changes, but how damage drives aging is unknown. XFE progeroid syndrome is a disease of accelerated aging caused by a defect in DNA repair. NF-κB, a transcription factor activated by cellular damage and stress, has increased activity with aging and aging-related chronic diseases. To determine whether NF-κB drives aging in response to the accumulation of spontaneous, endogenous DNA damage, we measured the activation of NF-κB in WT and progeroid model mice. As both WT and progeroid mice aged, NF-κB was activated stochastically in a variety of cell types. Genetic depletion of one allele of the p65 subunit of NF-κB or treatment with a pharmacological inhibitor of the NF-κB-activating kinase, IKK, delayed the age-related symptoms and pathologies of progeroid mice. Additionally, inhibition of NF-κB reduced oxidative DNA damage and stress and delayed cellular senescence. These results indicate that the mechanism by which DNA damage drives aging is due in part to NF-κB activation. IKK/NF-κB inhibitors are sufficient to attenuate this damage and could provide clinical benefit for degenerative changes associated with accelerated aging disorders and normal aging.

DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) are lesions caused by a variety of endogenous metabolites, environmental exposures, and cancer chemotherapeutic agents that have two reactive groups. The common feature of these diverse lesions is that two nucleotides on opposite strands are covalently joined. ICLs prevent the separation of two DNA strands and therefore essential cellular processes including DNA replication and transcription. ICLs are mainly detected in S phase when a replication fork stalls at an ICL. Damage signaling and repair of ICLs are promoted by the Fanconi anemia pathway and numerous posttranslational modifications of DNA repair and chromatin structural proteins. ICLs are also detected and repaired in non-replicating cells, although the mechanism is less clear. A unique feature of ICL repair is that both strands of DNA must be incised to completely remove the lesion. This is accomplished in sequential steps to prevent creating multiple double-strand breaks. Unhooking of an ICL from one strand is followed by translesion synthesis to fill the gap and create an intact duplex DNA, harboring a remnant of the ICL. Removal of the lesion from the second strand is likely accomplished by nucleotide excision repair. Inadequate repair of ICLs is particularly detrimental to rapidly dividing cells, explaining the bone marrow failure characteristic of Fanconi anemia and why cross-linking agents are efficacious in cancer therapy. Herein, recent advances in our understanding of ICLs and the biological responses they trigger are discussed.

Summary Accumulation of DNA damage is implicated in aging. This is supported by the fact that inherited defects in DNA repair can cause accelerated aging of tissues. However, clear-cut evidence for DNA damage accumulation in old age is lacking. Numerous studies report measurement of DNA damage in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from tissues of young and old organisms, with variable outcomes. Variability results from genetic differences between specimens or the instability of some DNA lesions. To control these variables and test the hypothesis that elderly organisms have more oxidative DNA damage than young organisms, we measured 8,5′-cyclopurine-2′-deoxynucleosides (cPu), which are relatively stable, in tissues of young and old wild-type and congenic progeroid mice. We found that cPu accumulate spontaneously in the nuclear DNA of wild-type mice with age and to a greater extent in DNA repair-deficient progeroid mice, with a similar tissue-specific pattern (liver>kidney>brain). These data, generated under conditions where genetic and environmental variables are controlled, provide strong evidence that DNA repair mechanisms are inadequate to clear endogenous lesions over the lifespan of mammals. The similar, although exaggerated, results obtained from progeroid, DNA repair-deficient mice and old normal mice support the conclusion that DNA damage accumulates with, and likely contributes to aging.

Oxidative damage is a well-established driver of aging. Evidence of oxidative stress exists in aged and degenerated discs, but it is unclear how it affects disc metabolism. In this study, we first determined whether oxidative stress negatively impacts disc matrix metabolism using disc organotypic and cell cultures. Mouse disc organotypic culture grown at atmospheric oxygen (20% O2) exhibited perturbed disc matrix homeostasis, including reduced proteoglycan synthesis and enhanced expression of matrix metalloproteinases, compared to discs grown at low oxygen levels (5% O2). Human disc cells grown at 20% O2 showed increased levels of mitochondrial-derived superoxide anions and perturbed matrix homeostasis. Treatment of disc cells with the mitochondria-targeted reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger XJB-5-131 blunted the adverse effects caused by 20% O2. Importantly, we demonstrated that treatment of accelerated aging Ercc1−/Δmice, previously established to be a useful in vivo model to study age-related intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), also resulted in improved disc total glycosaminoglycan content and proteoglycan synthesis. This demonstrates that mitochondrial-derived ROS contributes to age-associated IDD in Ercc1−/Δmice. Collectively, these data provide strong experimental evidence that mitochondrial-derived ROS play a causal role in driving changes linked to aging-related IDD and a potentially important role for radical scavengers in preventing IDD.

Advanced age is one of the most important risk factors for osteoporosis. Accumulation of oxidative DNA damage has been proposed to contribute to age-related deregulation of osteoblastic and osteoclastic cells. ERCC1 (Excision Repair Cross Complementary group 1)-XPF (Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group F) is an evolutionarily conserved structure-specific endonuclease that is required for multiple DNA repair pathways. Inherited mutations affecting expression of ERCC1-XPF cause a severe progeroid syndrome in humans, including early onset of osteopenia and osteoporosis, or anomalies in skeletal development. Herein, we used progeroid ERCC1-XPF deficient mice, including Ercc1-null (Ercc1−/−) and hypomorphic (Ercc1−/Δ) mice, to investigate the mechanism by which DNA damage leads to accelerated bone aging. Compared to their wild-type littermates, both Ercc1−/− and Ercc1−/Δ mice display severe, progressive osteoporosis caused by reduced bone formation and enhanced osteoclastogenesis. ERCC1 deficiency leads to atrophy of osteoblastic progenitors in the bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) population. There is increased cellular senescence of BMSCs and osteoblastic cells, as characterized by reduced proliferation, accumulation of DNA damage and a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). This leads to enhanced secretion of inflammatory cytokines known to drive osteoclastogenesis, such as IL-6, TNFα, and RANKL and thereby induces an inflammatory bone microenvironment favoring osteoclastogenesis. Furthermore, we found that the transcription factor NF-κB is activated in osteoblastic and osteoclastic cells of the Ercc1 mutant mice. Importantly, we demonstrated that haploinsufficiency of the p65 NF-κB subunit partially rescued the osteoporosis phenotype of Ercc1−/Δ mice. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of the NF-κB signaling via an IKK inhibitor reversed cellular senescence and SASP in Ercc1−/Δ BMSCs. These results demonstrate that DNA damage drives osteoporosis through an NF-κB-dependent mechanism. Therefore, the NF-κB pathway represents a novel therapeutic target to treat aging-related bone disease.