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Neural cell state shifts and fate loss in ageing and age-related diseases

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 19, pages 434–443 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Most age-related neurodegenerative diseases remain incurable owing to an incomplete understanding of the disease mechanisms. Several environmental and genetic factors contribute to disease onset, with human biological ageing being the primary risk factor. In response to acute cellular damage and external stimuli, somatic cells undergo state shifts characterized by temporal changes in their structure and function that increase their resilience, repair cellular damage, and lead to their mobilization to counteract the pathology. This basic cell biological principle also applies to human brain cells, including mature neurons that upregulate developmental features such as cell cycle markers or glycolytic reprogramming in response to stress. Although such temporary state shifts are required to sustain the function and resilience of the young human brain, excessive state shifts in the aged brain might result in terminal fate loss of neurons and glia, characterized by a permanent change in cell identity. Here, we offer a new perspective on the roles of cell states in sustaining health and counteracting disease, and we examine how cellular ageing might set the stage for pathological fate loss and neurodegeneration. A better understanding of neuronal state and fate shifts might provide the means for a controlled manipulation of cell fate to promote brain resilience and repair.

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Fig. 1: Examples of cell states and fates in the brain.
Fig. 2: Damage-induced state shifts in young neurons and fate loss in old neurons.
Fig. 3: Pluripotency reprogramming and partial reprogramming and rejuvenation for neurons.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A. Ocampo, S. Schäfer, P. Verstreken, B. De Strooper, I. Nitulescu, M. Wang and L. Karbacher for helpful discussions. The work of the authors is funded by the BrightFocus Foundation (A2019562S, A2022024F), the European Union (grants ERC-STG-2019-852086 and H2020-MSCA-IF-2017-797205), the Alzheimer Association (grant AARG-22-9723093), the Chen Foundation, the Austrian Science Fund (grant FWF-I5057), Clene Nanomedicine, the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), The National Institute on Aging (R01 grants AG05611, AG057706, AG072502, and AG056306, the K99-AG056679 and the P30-AG062429), the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (grant #19PABHI34610000), the Grace Foundation, the JPB Foundation, Annette C. Merle-Smith, Lynn and Edward Streim, the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund, the Milky Way Research Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Stichting ASC Academy, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) (grant RT2–01927), the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, the Theodor Koerner Fonds, L’Oreal Austria/OeUK/OeAW Stipend, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Larissa Traxler & Jerome Mertens

  2. Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Raffaella Lucciola, Joseph R. Herdy, Jeffrey R. Jones, Jerome Mertens & Fred H. Gage

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  1. Larissa Traxler
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Contributions

F.H.G., L.T., R.L., J.R.H., J.R.J, and J.M. researched data for the article. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors wrote the article. F.H.G., L.T., R.L., J.R.H., J.R.J. and J.M. reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Jerome Mertens or Fred H. Gage.

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Nature Reviews Neurology thanks M. Orr, A. Prigione and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Glossary

Bivalent promoter chromatin marks

Activating and repressing histone modifications, such as histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylated (H3K4me3) and histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylated (H3K27me3).

Cellular senescence

An irreversible damage response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli in normal cells, which results in diverse phenotypic alterations including cell cycle arrest, an inflammatory secretome, metabolic alterations and epigenetic reprograming.

Epigenetic drift

Global stochastic deregulation of epigenetic patterns in response to environmental factors and ageing.

Health span

The number of years lived when a person is healthy and free from disease.

Metabolic drift

A change in preference for a set of specific metabolic pathways.

Nuclear pore

A protein-lined channel in the nuclear envelope that regulates the transport of molecules, such as transcription factors, into and out of the nucleus.

Proliferative arrest

The cessation of a cell proceeding through the cell cycle and dividing.

Transcriptional noise

Variation in gene expression and transcriptional activity occurring among an otherwise homogeneous isogenic population of cells.

Warburg effect

A metabolic switch from oxidative metabolism to aerobic glycolysis, first described in cancer cells.

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Traxler, L., Lucciola, R., Herdy, J.R. et al. Neural cell state shifts and fate loss in ageing and age-related diseases. Nat Rev Neurol 19, 434–443 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-023-00815-0

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