"Longevity Protein" works with a partner
Scientists have revealed the structure of the hormone that slows down aging
Molecular biologists from Yale have revealed the three-dimensional structure of the hormone Klotho, which slows down aging, and discovered its unexpected connection with the real mechanism of cell rejuvenation, according to an article published in the journal Nature (Chen et al., α-Klotho is a non-enzymatic molecular scaffold for FGF23 hormone signaling).
"We found that Klotho does not actually protect organs from aging directly, but only helps another molecule, FGF23 (fibroblast growth factor 23, fibroblast growth factor 23 – VM), to perform a similar function. This brings us closer to a true understanding of how the human body ages, and allows us to create drugs that would block or enhance the work of these hormones," said Moosa Mohammadi from New York University (in a press release by Researchers Discover Structure of Anti–Aging Hormone - VM).
Drawing from an article in Nature – VM.
In recent years, scientists have discovered dozens of different hormones, proteins and other substances, increasing or decreasing the concentration of which significantly prolongs the life of mice and other animals. A striking example of this is the Klotho protein, high concentrations of which are observed in the body of long-lived people.
This substance, as shown by experiments on transgenic mice, whose DNA contains additional copies of the Klotho gene, significantly prolongs their life and at the same time slows down brain aging, making them more intelligent in old age. Relatively recently, biologists have discovered that Klotho can "accelerate" the work of the brain and young mice, which has renewed the interest of the scientific community in this substance.
According to Mohammadi, the principles of Klotho's work remained a mystery to molecular biologists, since scientists did not know what form this protein takes in the "combat state" in the cells of the human body and in the bloodstream, and with what other cellular systems it connects and interacts.
The only thing that scientists have been able to find out over the past 20 years is that Klotho is somehow associated with hormones from the FGF family responsible for the growth of connective tissue. If the genes associated with Klotho or these signaling substances were removed, the life expectancy of animals fell sharply, which indicated the joint nature of their action.
Mohammadi and his team tested whether this is actually the case by freezing several Klotho molecules, FGF proteins and a number of other cell components with which they supposedly react, and enlightening them with a particle accelerator. Biologists used these images to obtain an accurate three-dimensional model of all these proteins and to study how they can interact with each other and other parts of cells.
These models revealed an unexpected thing – it turned out that Klotho does not slow down aging by itself, this role is actually performed by another protein, FGF23. This hormone, as scientists note, is synthesized in the bone marrow and spreads to all other regions of the body, where it combines with Klotho and a number of other molecules and causes cells to regenerate.
Using this information, as the biologist notes, it is possible to create a molecule that will activate FGF23 molecules as well as Klotho, which will either slow down aging, or suppress the work of this hormone if the body produces too much of it, which often happens with the development of kidney diseases and heart hypertrophy.
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