Curcumin, inflammation, ageing and age-related diseases

A Symposium regarding the Pathophysiology of Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing was held in Palermo, Italy between April 7-8th 2009. Comments and keynotes by E. Sikora, G. Scapagnini and M. Barbagallo are summarized here.The ageing process, opposite to longevity, is not genetically programmed. There are no genes that have been selected to actually promote ageing. The theory of evolution assumes that there is a trade-off between body maintenance and investment in reproduction [1]. Lifespan is regulated by genes controlling the activity of metabolism, antioxidant systems, DNA repair, cellular senescence and cell death. Their functions gradually decline due to random errors in DNA replication and damage to macromolecules, what leads to the accumulation of senescent cells and damaged tissue with age. However, diverse tissues building various organs may show different patterns of senescence [2-4]. The lesions accumulating with age are mainly, but not exclusively, caused by the increasing level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as originally proposed by Harman [5].A key in the ageing of an organism is immunosenescence which may play a part in the age-related immunological changes [6]. Lifelong exposure to a plethora of antigens (bacterial, viral, exogenous, auto, which can be considered as stressors) leads to a gradual decline of naive T cells. In turn, there is an accumulation of memory T and effector CD8+CD28- T cells which secrete increased amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines [7]. Another major consequence of chronic exposure to antigens is the progressive activation of macrophages and related cells in most organs and tissues of the body creating an imbalance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory networks. This results in the low grade chronic pro-inflammatory status (inflamm-ageing) [6]. Inflamm-ageing can be characterized by an increased level of a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines in tissues, and other inflammatory markers, such as coagulation cascade com