LINE-1 reactivation drives aging-related inflammation, Cold Spring Harbor lecture explains
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Transposable elements, including LINE-1, make up roughly 17% of the human genome and are normally silenced by heterochromatin in adulthood. In a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Leading Strand lecture, John Sedivy explained that as aging erodes that silencing, LINE-1 re-enters the cytoplasm, where it is sensed as viral material and drives chronic antiviral inflammation. This process may underlie neurodegeneration, cancer and other age-related diseases. Epidemiology links long-term use of HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) to lower rates of Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Sedivy co-founded Transposon Therapeutics, whose LINE-1-targeting reverse transcriptase inhibitor is about 20 times more potent than older drugs and is now being tested in a large ALS trial. The outcome of that trial is still pending.
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- youtube.comJohn Sedivy at CSHL explains LINE-1 reactivation, inflammation and aging
In a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Leading Strand lecture, John Sedivy explained that LINE-1 and other transposable elements make up roughly 17% of the human genome and are normally silenced by heterochromatin in adulthood. As aging erodes that silencing, LINE-1 re-enters the cytoplasm, is sensed as viral material and drives chronic antiviral inflammation that may underlie neurodegeneration, cancer and other age-related disease. He pointed to epidemiology linking long-term use of HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) to lower rates of Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, and his co-founded Transposon Therapeutics has a LINE-1-targeting reverse transcriptase inhibitor, about 20 times more potent than older drugs, in a large ALS trial.
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