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Reversal of immune-cell shutdown protects the ageing brain

Immune cells called macrophages have been found to shut down major metabolic pathways during ageing. Restoring metabolism in these cells is sufficient to alleviate age-associated cognitive decline in mice.
  1. Jonas J. Neher

    1. Jonas J. Neher is at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, 72076 Tübingen, Germany, and in the Department of Cellular Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen.

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Immune cells called macrophages are found in almost every tissue, and are crucial for maintaining organ health and providing a first line of defence against disease-causing organisms. The energy demands of macrophages increase drastically when they are activated, and so they rebalance or enhance their two main energy-producing metabolic pathways (glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation) to quickly fuel an effective immune response1. Writing in Nature, Minhas et al.2 report that macrophages shut down these metabolic pathways during ageing, severely compromising macrophage function and, in turn, brain health. This work has implications not only for the preservation of brain health during ageing, but also for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease or sepsis, in which similar maladaptive macrophage states could be common.

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Nature 590, 44-45 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00063-6

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