Blocking RAGE as an Anti-AGE Strategy
Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) build up with age and cause all sorts of issues. As this paper notes, some of these problematic effects stem from RAGE, the cellular receptor for AGEs - which you might think of as one key upon the control keyboard for a cell. If that key is being constantly hammered by too many AGEs in the system, then that is a problem. "The formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) occurs in diverse settings such as diabetes, aging, renal failure, inflammation and hypoxia. The chief cellular receptor for AGEs, RAGE, transduces the effects of AGEs via signal transduction ... Data suggest that RAGE perpetuates the inflammatory signals initiated by AGEs via multiple mechanisms. AGE-RAGE interaction stimulates generation of reactive oxygen species and inflammation-mechanisms which enhance AGE formation. ... Taken together, these considerations place RAGE in the center of biochemical and molecular stresses that characterize the complications of diabetes and chronic disease. Stopping RAGE-dependent signaling may hold the key to interrupting cycles of cellular perturbation and tissue damage in these disorders." I'm still in favor of breaking down AGEs as the primary strategy: interfering in RAGE doesn't stop the build up of AGEs that causes it to be a problem in the first place.