A Transcriptional Profile of Aging in the Human Kidney

Abstract

In this study, we found 985 genes that change expression in the cortex and the medulla of the kidney with age. Some of the genes whose transcripts increase in abundance with age are known to be specifically expressed in immune cells, suggesting that immune surveillance or inflammation increases with age. The age-regulated genes show a similar aging profile in the cortex and the medulla, suggesting a common underlying mechanism for aging. Expression profiles of these age-regulated genes mark not only age, but also the relative health and physiology of the kidney in older individuals. Finally, the set of aging-regulated kidney genes suggests specific mechanisms and pathways that may play a role in kidney degeneration with age.

The effects of aging vs. α7 nAChR subunit deficiency on the mouse brain transcriptome: aging beats the deficiency

“…Of note, the expression levels of almost all of these ribosomal genes were upregulated in aged brains. Similar expression changes were also demonstrated in other studies that profiled the transcriptional changes in aging brain, muscle, thymocytes, and kidney in murine, human, or both (Blalock et al 2003;Lustig et al 2009;Oh et al 2010;Rodwell et al 2004;Zahn et al 2006). In addition to the increased aging-related ribosomal gene expression described in multiple studies, there is a known decrease in protein synthesis during aging (reviewed by Tavernarakis 2008).…”

“…Moreover, the levels of various complement components increase during the course of neurodegenerative disorders such as AD, PD, Huntington, and prion diseases (reviewed by Lucin and Wyss-Coray 2009). In other aging tissues, such as muscle, lung, thymocytes, and kidney, an increase in immune response genes was also demonstrated (Aoshiba and Nagai 2007; Lustig et al 2009;Rodwell et al 2004;Zahn et al 2006). Recently, Swindell analyzed published expression microarray data derived from many different mouse tissues of aged mice and detected common patterns of age-related expression changes, such as upregulation of genes associated with immune response (Swindell 2009).…”

Systems biology of aging in four species

“…Nonetheless, transcriptional profiles of many human tissues, including brain [35,36], blood [37], eye [38], kidney [39,40], muscle [41-43••], and skin [44] have been generated. Several studies have used large sample sizes to overcome the genetic and environmental variability inherent in human populations, permitting these studies to achieve a higher level of statistical significance [35,39,43]. In recent years, there has been a trend towards comparing the transcriptional profiles of several different tissues to each other, aiming to determine genes and genetic pathways that show common patterns of age-regulation in different tissues.…”

“…In recent years, there has been a trend towards comparing the transcriptional profiles of several different tissues to each other, aiming to determine genes and genetic pathways that show common patterns of age-regulation in different tissues. In a study of aging in the kidney, Rodwell et al [39] compared the transcriptional profile of the medulla to that of the cortex, and found that two sections of kidney composed of very different cell types shared similar patterns of age-regulated gene expression. Fraser et al [36] compared areas of the frontal cortex with the cerebellum and failed to find any significant overlap in age-regulation.…”

Integration of ‘omics’ data in aging research: from biomarkers to systems biology

“…(2008) identified several thousand age‐related changes in gene expression in four different brain tissues. Later studies by different groups identified profound changes in the transcriptome with age in further tissues, such as skin, adipose tissue ( N  = 865) (Glass et al ., 2013) and kidney ( N  = 134) (Rodwell et al ., 2004). Most of these changes did not overlap in different tissues.…”