Zinc-induced Metallothionein in centenarian offspring from a large European population: the MARK-AGE Project.
Giacconi, Robertina; Costarelli, Laura; Piacenza, Francesco; Basso, Andrea; Bürkle, Alexander; Moreno-Villanueva, Maria; Grune, Tilman; Weber, Daniela; Stuetz, Wolfgang; Gonos, Efstathios S; Schön, Christiane; Grubeck-Loebenstein, Beatrix; Sikora, Ewa; Toussaint, Olivier; Debacq-Chainiaux, Florence; Franceschi, Claudio; Hervonen, Antti; Slagboom, Eline; Ciccarone, Fabio; Zampieri, Michele; Caiafa, Paola; Jansen, Eugène; Dollé, Martijn E T; Breusing, Nicolle; Mocchegiani, Eugenio; Malavolta, Marco
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Type
Article
Language
en
Date
2017-10-17
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Title
Zinc-induced Metallothionein in centenarian offspring from a large European population: the MARK-AGE Project.
Translated Title
Published in
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2018; advance online publication (ahead of print)
Abstract
Metallothionein (MT) family are cysteine-rich proteins that regulate zinc (Zn) homeostasis and protect against oxidative damage. Studies in transgenic mice have shown that MT favourably influence longevity, although their role in human aging is not completely understood.Within the European multicenter study MARK-AGE, we analysed MT induction after Zn treatment in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and its relation with redox biomarkers in 2936 age-stratified subjects (35-75 years) including the general population (RASIG), centenarian offspring (GO) and their spouses (SGO). We found that the lymphocyte capability to induce MT in response to Zn is not affected by aging. However, GO participants showed lower Zn-induced MT and increased basal expression of MT1A, MT1X and ZnT-1 genes than RASIG subjects. Moreover, Zn-induced MT levels were found to be inversely related with oxidative stress markers (plasma protein carbonyls, 3-nitrotyrosine and malondialdehyde) in the whole population, but not in GO subjects.In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that the response to Zn is attenuated in PBMCs of centenarian offspring compared to the general population as a consequence of a tighter control of Zn homeostasis which is likely to provide them constant protection against stress stimuli over the whole lifespan.