Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

In the last few years, researchers were surprised to find that we can detect mutated blood cells in >10% of people over the age of 65. These people have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular issues, diabetes, blood cancer and of overall death. The mutated blood cell population, originating from a mutated stem cell clone, might be the "seed" for these age-related diseases. In fact, this "seed" seems to thrive in a certain kind of "soil" of the bone marrow and blood that has pro-inflammatory characteristics when studied in animals. I hypothesize that people over the age of 65 years old have an altered inflammatory environment (i.e. the "soil" is different) when they have this mutated blood cell "seed" population. To test this idea, I am using highly sensitive DNA sequencing to detect various mutations in 300 otherwise healthy people over the age of 65, recruited through Baycrest and Sunnybrook Hospitals. We found that the prevalence of certain comorbidities is higher among people with CHIP, and we implicate lung disease with CHIP for the first time as well. I am also quantifying markers of inflammation in these patients, and have found that certain mutations (e.g. in genes like "TET2" and "DNMT3A") are associated with more intense inflammation. My work builds toward identifying elderly people at increased risk of specific comorbidities of aging and death. Initially, this may enable personalized monitoring for these diseases (i.e. referrals, testing) and preventive medicine. Ultimately, this may lead to new therapies that target the mutated "seeds" and their specific "soil" - their unique inflammatory environments. This work may lead to improvements in individuals' quality of life and the healthcare burden overall for Canada's aging population.