Healthy Ageing

News overview

11-06-'13	Vidi grants for Fernando Rivadeneira and Vincent Jaddoe NCHA researchers Vincent Jaddoe and Fernando Rivadeneira, both working at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, have both been awarded a Vidi grant. They will each receive EUR 800,000 to be spent on their scientific research into osteoporosis (Rivadeneira) and in early life factors that may play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease (Jaddoe). Read more

14-05-'13	Thesis defence Bouwe Krijthe On May 31, Bouwe Krijthe will defend his PhD thesis titled 'Risk factors for atrial fibrillation' in the Senaatszaal of the Erasmus University (building A), at 11:30h. The research was funded by the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Read more

28-03-'13	Scientists identify link between faster ‘biological’ ageing and risk of developing age-related diseases such as heart disease and cancer An international team of scientists including researchers from the VU Univ Netherlands Twin Register, Leiden Univ Medical Centre, Erasmus Univ Medical Centre and Groningen University Medical Centre has found new evidence that links faster ‘biological’ ageing to the risk of developing several age-related diseases - including heart disease, multiple sclerosis and various cancers. The study, led by the University of Leicester UK involved scientists in 14 centres across 8 countries, working as part of the European ENGAGE Consortium and The Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing. The research is published online 27th March in the journal Nature Genetics. Read more

26-11-'12	mTOR pathway not only plays a role in the regulation of disease and aging in animal models, but also in human health and longevity. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an evolutionarily conserved nutrient-sensing protein kinase that acts as a central regulator of growth and cell division. Reduced mTOR signalling in model organisms like yeast, worms, flies and rodents extends lifespan and is associated with better metabolic health. NCHA researchers postulated that a similar reduction in this signalling pathway may also contribute to longevity and healthy ageing in humans. They show in this paper that mTOR pathway not only plays a role in the regulation of disease and ageing in (animal) models, but also in human health and longevity. Read more

23-11-'12	China National Committee on Ageing visits NCHA On November 2 a technical mission of the Chinese National Committee on Ageing (CNCA) visited the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing during its 3-day stay in The Netherlands. After a word of welcome by professor Pancras Hoogendoorn, the Dean of the LUMC, Dr. Kai Ye and dr. Frans van der Ouderaa discussed NCHA research on human ageing, research infrastructure and business development with private partners in particular with the visitors. The mission visited The Netherlands and Finland because “both countries have preceded China in embracing an ageing society and have accumulated good experiences in dealing with their population ageing”. Read more

22-11-'12	Brain tissue volumes in familial longevity: the Leiden Longevity Study Atrophy is one of the major age-related changes in the brain. To investigate the association of brain volumes with exceptional longevity we tested whether middle-aged to elderly offspring of nonagenarian siblings have larger brain volumes than their spouses using magnetic resonance imaging. Read more

30-08-'12	Cytalomegavirus risk factor in type 2 diabetes Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the viruses that most infected people carry without ill effects. Once infected you are infected for life and, although it normally is dormant, it can become active again at any point in time. New research of NCHA researcher dr. Andrea Maier and het colleagues from Leiden (NL) and Tubingen (GER), published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Immunity and Ageing, shows that CMV infection is a significant risk factor for the type 2 diabetes in the elderly. Read more

15-08-'12	Oldest Dutch twin sisters (101) in Dutch TV programme 'Altijd Wat' On August 7 the Dutch broadcasting company NCRV interviewed two very old participants of the Leiden Longevity Study, the identical twin sisters Nowee (101): how does it feel to become so long lived? And what if we become even older, up to 200 or even 1000 years like de the British Aubrey de Grey wants us to believe, as soon as we have fixes for the disease that he calls ageing? Would that be desirable and plausible? Eline Slagboom (NCHA) says it is nonsense. Let us focus on acquiring an healthy ageing population between 60 and 90 years. Read more

12-07-'12	Eline Slagboom in Nature Reviews Genetics about the role of genetics in ageing Abstract - The rate of ageing, decelerated in longevity families, is heritable and so is the 30% excess survival in these families. A fruitful future approach to ageing research will include next gen sequencing (NGS) in sufficiently large numbers of subjects from longevity families. Informative subjects would be long-lived individuals having offspring with a healthy metabolic profile with a positive family history of longevity and/or disease free survival to relatively high ages. Genetic studies in the population at large will become feasible if novel approaches like glycomics and metabolomics in combination with traditional serum parameters generate quantitative biomarker profiles reflecting the ageing rate. Using NGS, the currently available longevity families would allow for identification of common or rare variants with large effect sizes. The current biobanks allow for deep phenotying, gene expression analysis and other functional genomic studies in cells and tissues. These efforts will provide new leads to research into human ageing and lifespan regulation. Read more

09-07-'12	Skin from offspring of long-living families discloses its biological youth People who age faster biologically, accumulate more aged (senescent) cells in their skin than other people do. Researchers from the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing have described that in the medical journal Aging Cell. This finding fits in well with another recent article in the renowned journal Nature, which revealed that mice from which the senescent cells had been removed scarcely aged or aged much later. Read more

15-05-'12	DIO2 variant key to onset and progress of osteoathritis Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative age-related disease of the joints with a considerable, but complex, genetic component. The DIO2-gene codes for deiodinase 2 (D2), which regulates thyroid activity. In cartilage of patients with OA, D2 positive cells and staining intensity were markedly increased as compared to controls. Furthermore, mRNA levels of the DIO2 ‘OA-risk’ variant were consistently higher as compared to the ‘normal’ variant. Steffan Bos and Ingrid Meulenbelt, participants in the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, revealed these findings in the April issue of Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. Read more

19-04-'12	Discovery of genes underlying fracture susceptibility and the risk of osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a silent but frequent and devastating age-related disease: 50% of subjects that fracture their hip after age 80 years die within 12 months after the event. Actually, women older than 65 years are at greater risk for death after hip fracture than after breast cancer. While the consequences of osteoporosis are well established, the causes of the disease remain elusive. The disease is strongly genetically determined, but the responsible genes are largely unknown. However, this situation has changed dramatically today. According to a study published in the leading genetic journal Nature Genetics, variants in 56 regions of the genome have been discovered to influence the Bone Mineral Density (BMD) of individuals. Fourteen of these variants were also found to increase the risk of bone fracture. This is the first time such large number of genetic variants have been robustly found associated with fracture risk. Read more

21-02-'12	International master on Vitality and Ageing, September 2012-July 2013, Leyden Academy With people living longer and longer the healthcare for the elderly is one of the greatest challenges for the coming decades. Now is the time to think about innovative solutions for this changing world. Read more

23-01-'12	New genes found indicating start of menopause A group of researchers led by Erasmus MC has unraveled part of the secret behind the fertile period in women. They have found differences in the DNA that affect the point at which women go into menopausal transition. Part of these differences can be found in genes associated with immunological processes which can play a role in extremely early menopausal transitions. The scientists describe their breakthrough today in the leading scientific journal Nature Genetics. Read more

08-12-'11	Eat less, live more...and pray for beans Eat less, live more and...pray for beans 9former title The Edible Time Machine) is a collection of recipes that imagine near and far future diets of ageing Netherlanders from multiple perspectives: genomic, gastronomic and ecological. How will changes in climate, demography and energy change the genomes and food technologies that compose Dutch food cultures? Research will be based on the Growing Old Together study. This project uses the lens of food to imagine future scenarios that we expect and to prototype the futures that we desire. By creating spectacular edible artifacts they are able to create a rich multi-sensory experience that transports the eater far from the everyday experience of eating. Read more

18-11-'11	Staying healthy with or without pills It seems to be a lottery: one person enjoys a healthy old age whereas another of a younger age suffers from dementia. Is it really just down to luck? In September two researchers gained their PhDs: one investigated the characteristics of people from families where old age is common. The other examined how accurately the risk of dementia can be predicted. “Sometimes it is better not to treat a condition.” Read more

15-11-'11	High blood sugar levels make you look older Long term exposure to high levels of glucose causes people to look older than they really are, new research suggests. A study embedded in the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) and jointly carried out by Leiden University Medical Center and Unilever R&D has identified, for the first time, a relationship between people's blood sugar levels and their perceived facial age. People aged 50-70 with high non-fasted blood sugar levels consistently looked older than those with lower blood sugar levels. Read more

11-11-'11	VENI grant and Young Investigator Award for Kai Ye Kai Ye, bio-informatician within the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, has received a Young Investigator Award during the International Congress on Human Genetics. He also received a prestigious VENI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for his proposal titled ‘novel algorithms to detect indels and structural variants from next- and third-generation sequencing data’. Indels are insertions and deletions in the DNA. Current technology can only find small and simple genetic differences between people, not large and complex ones. These variants can help us understand yet unexplained diseases. Ye et al. will develop software to detect those large and complex variants. With the VENI grant Kai Ye can perform research for a period of three years. Read more

13-09-'11	Major discovery in preventing cardiovascular diseases An international group of researchers, including researchers form NCHA, has discovered a set of key genes that regulate blood pressure. These genes collectively not only predict the likelihood of developing hypertension but also the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. These diseases are currently the leading cause of death worldwide. The findings provide important new perspectives for drug development. The researchers published their results on 11 September 2011 in two leading international journals: Nature en Nature Genetics. Read more

17-05-'11	Early environmental circumstances and healthy ageing With a large subsidy of the European Union, Prof Dr Eline Slagboom of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and scientific director of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, will study how circumstances during development and at a young age influence health at later age. Fourteen study groups in the EU and two companies participate in this collaborative research program called IDEAL (Integrated research on DEvelopmental determinant of Ageing and Longevity). Read more

09-02-'11	Turning the key to a healthy old age Improve your glucose metabolism at middle/older age by enhancing your insulin sensitivity, and you will turn the key to an increased and healthier life span. This is hypothesized by Wijsman et al., in the context of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing. This is based on the finding, in an elegant experiment, that children from long-lived nonagenarians show a better peripheral insulin sensitivity compared to their partners (same environmental setting, different genetic predisposition). Regardless of weight, fat mass, smoking and physical exercise, which were similar in both groups. Read more

05-11-'10	Prizes for young talents Five PhD students of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing recently received a prize during congresses. Carolien Wijsman has won a prize at the Tartu University Medical Faculty Annual Conference for best oral presentation and a poster prize for the best poster at the Geriatrics Days. Ling Oei, Karol Estrada, Carola Zillikens each received a young investigator award at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone Mineral Research in Toronto, Canada. Earlier this year Martha Castaño-Betancourt and again Karol Estrada won the young investigator award at the European symposium on Calcified Tissues. Karol Estrada is also a semifinalist for the ASHG trainee research award. Read more

29-10-'10	Getting old in spite of your DNA risk factors The number of common ‘risk alleles’ in one’s DNA does not appear to affect the chance of reaching old age. This was reported by Leiden University Medical Center scientists in a paper that was published in the Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (PNAS) on Monday October 4th. Read more

14-10-'10	Predicting height and disease Two NGI centers, the Center for Medical Systems Biology and the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing contributed to a landmark paper in Nature about height genes. Scientists from both centers participate in the GIANT consortium. Length is a trait with a strong heritability. This paper is a big step forward in understanding which of the genetic variants that differ between people account for differences in height. Of particular interest was that some of the loci contained sets of genes known to be involved in growth-related processes, and a number of the loci overlapped with those previously linked to other traits and diseases, including bone mineral density, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis and obesity. In depth analysis of these results will provide new insights in biological processes affecting health. Read more

13-10-'10	Apple or pear shape predetermined by your genes For some people it is much harder than others to watch their weight. Researchers found that people who inherited many genetic factors affecting weight from their parents are 7 to 9 pounds heavier than people who inherited fewer of those factors. Even if you have an apple or pear shape, appears determined in part by your genetic material. The researchers, including several members of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, published their findings in two publications in the international journal Nature Genetics Read more

07-09-'10	This smells like a failure André Uitterlinden and Eline Slagboom, scientific directors of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, expressed heavy comments on an article in Science about longevity genes in the Dutch Newspaper NRC (July 10, 2010). Using a specific set of genetic markers, Perls et al. predicted with 77-percent accuracy whether someone would live to a very old age. “This smells like a failure” and “The Lancet or Nature Genetics would never have published this”. Read more

15-04-'10	Going beyond the sequence: the epigenome and human disease Genetic studies and in particular genome-wide association studies revealed numerous DNA sequence variants contributing to the risk of human disease. This provided important new insights in the biological processes underlying many common diseases. Together, however, the sequence variants explain only a small proportion of the disease risk. Are we overlooking something? Yes, more and more researchers say: the epigenome. In a paper in the FASEB Journal (April 2010), Bas Heijmans from the Leiden University Medical Center and member of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing and his colleagues at the LUMC and Free University of Amsterdam (VU) answer the question how the role of the epigenome in disease can effectively be investigated in large-scale studies. Read more

11-03-'10	Change in management team NCHA Prof. Rudi Westendorp recently got another important task in the umbrella organization Ti-Go (Top Institute Healthy Ageing), of which NCHA is one of the pillars. For that reason he has withdrawn from the management team of NCHA on March 9, 2010. His prior position as the scientific director of NCHA will be filled in by André Uitterlinden (who was already co-director). The new co-director will be Eline Slagboom. Read more

photo: Jan den Hengst