Premature aging may play a role in the progression of CKD
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A better understanding of chronic kidney disease may be found in the study of aging, according to a presenter at the International Conference on Dialysis.
As Healio has previously reported, aging increases the prevalence of some diseases, including chronic kidney disease. Moreover, the loss of kidney function may result in a disconnect between chronological and biological age, according to a presentation.
Peter Stenvinkel, MD, PhD, a professor of renal medicine at Karolinska University Hospital of Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and colleagues experimented with DNA methylation clocks to measure biological aging in patients with CKD. Analyses revealed that patients have an older biological age before dialysis or at the time of transplantation; therefore, the researchers said that patients with CKD may undergo premature aging.
Additionally, Nrf2 depletion, mitochondria dysfunction, oxidative stress and loss of gut biodiversity contributes to aging, Stenvinkel said. He added that there are also environmental and established risks that can increase aging. For example, climate change, water shortages and heat waves can have a significant impact on the aging process of a patient with CKD.
In the presentation, Stenvinkel noted that the life span of animals ranges differently than that of humans, but there is something to be learned in the way animals live.
“I have been interested in hibernating bears, as they are metabolic magicians,” Stenvinkel said. “Anyone who can survive well without peeing for 6 months should evoke the interest of nephrologists.”
Even in high-risk conditions for CKD, he said that bears show high levels of phosphatidylcholine. Stenvinkel suggested the key to slow aging may be held in diet and gut microbiota and noted that tigers and lions eat red meat and are highly susceptible to CKD.
Another aspect of diet to consider in humans, however, are industrialized microbiota.
“The processing of foods may be detrimental,” Stenvinkel said. “There is a direct correlation between phosphate and death. [...] We are exposed to processed food, drugs, climate change, water shortages, and sedentary lifestyle, which will increase the risk and stimulate this disease of aging,” Stenvinkel said. “We are in desperate need to find solutions on how to break this vicious circle.”
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Stenvinkel P. Chronic kidney disease – A clinical model of premature aging. Presented at: International Conference on Dialysis; Sept. 21-22, 2022; (virtual meeting).
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