This collection will focus on the role the gut microbiome has with age-related diseases. The gut microbiome is essential in protective, metabolic, and physiologic functions of human health. As we age so too does our microbiome. It is becoming even more evident that dysbiosis, or imbalances of the gut microbiome community structure, is involved with not only immune system dysregulation but plays a hand with disease processes that affect many organ systems in the body. Most notably among older adults is the connection the gut microbiome has with memory and cognition along the microbiome-gut-brain axis. Unlocking a better understanding of how our gut microbiome ages and how we can utilize this to address age-related disease may provide the pivotal link to healthy aging.
Aging, and the chronic health conditions that accompany aging, are characterized by an increase in low-grade, chronic inflammation termed “inflamm-aging”. Higher inflammation correlates with frailty, which increases the risk of age-related diseases (ARDs) such as infections, cancers, diabetes, and cognitive decline. Inflamm-aging and frailty are impacted by intestinal health and can be causally linked to dysfunction or changes in the gut microbiome. Over 70% of our immune system is tasked with interacting with our gut microbiome and it is becoming more evident that the gut microbiome is the linchpin to immunosenescence, inflamm-aging, and frailty. Unveiling the key role that the microbiome plays in the development of inflamm-aging as well as in the transition from inflammation to age-related diseases would enable novel microbiome-based therapies targeting an organ system that to date has been relatively underutilized in preventing or treating age-related diseases.
A collection such as this covering the gut microbiome and age-related diseases is broad in scope but aims to focus Original Research into the following subtopics: Frailty; Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis and specifically how the gut microbiome influences cognitive functioning; Immune system dysregulation that occurs in aging and its relationship to pro-inflammatory states; and infections among older adult populations. All articles should utilize older adult populations or models involved in assessing aging.
