Could the Combination of eGFR and mGPS Facilitate the Differential Diagnosis of Age-Related Renal Decline from Diseases? A Large Study on the Population of Western Sicily.

The assessment of renal function is critical to diagnosing and managing renal age-related decline, disease (KD), and failure, which are prevalent in the elderly population. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is widely used as an indicator of kidney function, but its direct measurement is challenging, as are its age and gender caveats. This makes difficult the differential diagnosis between age-related physiological decline and KD and/or failure. Currently, the inflammation-based modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) is emerging as a promising biomarker of several inflammatory acute/chronic diseases. In this study, the large variability of eGFR with age and gender was evaluated as the association of eGFR values with mGPS levels. A population of 57,449 adult participants (age ≥ 18 years) was enrolled. Appropriate circulating biomarkers were measured to detect eGFR and mGPS values. The data obtained demonstrated a significant decrease in eGFR in men vs. women across the four selected age classes (18-40, 40-60, 60-80, 80-100 years); eGFR classes were significantly associated with mGPS (p < 0.001), as were age classes and gender with mGPS categories. Accordingly, the percentage of people having an mGPS score = 2 significantly increased across the eGFR classes: with an 11% in the G1/eGFR class needed to achieve 44% in G5/eGFR. Thus, the combination of mGPS with eGFR could represent the best benchmark risk model for the differential diagnosis of kidney disease from the age-related eGFR reduction.

A promising therapeutic peptide and preventive/diagnostic biomarker for age-related diseases: The Elabela/Apela/Toddler peptide.

Elabela (ELA), Apela or Toddler peptide is a hormone peptide belonging to the adipokine group and a component of apelinergic system, discovered in 2013-2014. Given its high homology with apelin, the first ligand of APJ receptor, ELA likely mediates similar effects. Increasing evidence shows that ELA has a critical function not only in embryonic development, but also in adulthood, contributing to physiological and pathological conditions, such as the onset of age-related diseases (ARD). However, still little is known about the mechanisms and molecular pathways of ELA, as well as its precise functions in ARD pathophysiology. Here, we report the mechanisms by which ELA/APJ signaling acts in a very complex network of pathways for the maintenance of physiological functions of human tissue and organs, as well as in the onset of some ARD, where it appears to play a central role. Therefore, we describe the possibility to use the ELA/APJ pathway, as novel biomarker (predictive and diagnostic) and target for personalized treatments of ARD. Its potentiality as an optimal peptide candidate for therapeutic ARD treatments is largely described, also detailing potential current limitations.

Estrogens Inhibit Amyloid-ß-Mediated Paired Helical Filament-Like Conformation of Tau Through Antioxidant Activity and miRNA 218 Regulation in hTau Mice.

BACKGROUND: The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease as well as its progression and severity are known to be different in men and women, and cognitive decline is greater in women than in men at the same stage of disease and could be correlated at least in part on estradiol levels. OBJECTIVE: In our work we found that biological sex influences the effect of amyloid-ß42 (Aß42) monomers on pathological tau conformational change. METHODS: In this study we used transgenic mice expressing the wild-type human tau (hTau) which were subjected to intraventricular (ICV) injections of Aß peptides in nanomolar concentration. RESULTS: We found that Aß42 produces pathological conformational changes and hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in male or ovariectomized female mice but not in control females. The treatment of ovariectomized females with estradiol replacement protects against the pathological conformation of tau and seems to be mediated by antioxidant activity as well as the ability to modulate the expression of miRNA 218 linked to tau phosphorylation. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that factors as age, reproductive stage, hormone levels, and the interplay with other risk factors should be considered in women, in order to identify the best appropriate therapeutic approach in prevention of cognitive impairment.