Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 13 pp 12534—12581
Healthspan pathway maps in C. elegans and humans highlight transcription, proliferation/biosynthesis and lipids
- 1 Rostock University Medical Center, Institute for Biostatistics and Informatics in Medicine and Aging Research, IBIMA, Rostock, Germany
- 2 Humboldt-University of Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, Germany
- 3 Department of Family Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
- 4 Rostock University Medical Center, Oscar-Langendorff-Institute for Physiology, Rostock, Germany
- 5 Rostock University Medical Center, Department of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Rostock, Germany
- 6 Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
- 7 Department of Measurement and Information Systems, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
- 8 Abiomics Europe Ltd., Budapest, Hungary
- 9 Institute of Computer Science, BIIT research group, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- 10 Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster, Germany
- 11 University of Rostock, Institute for Philosophy, Rostock, Germany
- 12 School of Medical Sciences, University of School of Medical Sciences, University of Örebro, School of Medical Sciences, University of Örebro, Örebro, Sweden
- 13 University Medicine Greifswald, Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Greifswald, Germany
- 14 University Medicine Greifswald, Institute for Community Medicine, Greifswald, Germany
- 15 KU Leuven, Department of Biology, Leuven, Belgium
Received: March 24, 2020 Accepted: June 4, 2020 Published: July 7, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103514How to Cite
Copyright © 2020 Möller et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The molecular basis of aging and of aging-associated diseases is being unraveled at an increasing pace. An extended healthspan, and not merely an extension of lifespan, has become the aim of medical practice. Here, we define health based on the absence of diseases and dysfunctions. Based on an extensive review of the literature, in particular for humans and C. elegans, we compile a list of features of health and of the genes associated with them. These genes may or may not be associated with survival/lifespan. In turn, survival/lifespan genes that are not known to be directly associated with health are not considered. Clusters of these genes based on molecular interaction data give rise to maps of healthspan pathways for humans and for C. elegans. Overlaying healthspan-related gene expression data onto the healthspan pathway maps, we observe the downregulation of (pro-inflammatory) Notch signaling in humans and of proliferation in C. elegans. We identify transcription, proliferation/biosynthesis and lipids as a common theme on the annotation level, and proliferation-related kinases on the gene/protein level. Our literature-based data corpus, including visualization, should be seen as a pilot investigation of the molecular underpinnings of health in two different species. Web address: http://pathways.h2020awe.eu.