Reduced insulin/IGF1 signaling prevents immune aging via ZIP-10/bZIP-mediated feedforward loop. Author Yujin Lee, Yoonji Jung, Dae-Eun Jeong, Wooseon Hwang, Seokjin Ham, Hae-Eun Park, Sujeong Kwon, Jasmine Ashraf, Coleen Murphy, Seung-Jae Lee Publication Year 2021 Type Journal Article Abstract A hallmark of aging is immunosenescence, a decline in immune functions, which appeared to be inevitable in living organisms, including Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we show that genetic inhibition of the DAF-2/insulin/IGF-1 receptor drastically enhances immunocompetence in old age in C. elegans. We demonstrate that longevity-promoting DAF-16/FOXO and heat-shock transcription factor 1 (HSF-1) increase immunocompetence in old daf-2(-) animals. In contrast, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (PMK-1), a key determinant of immunity, is only partially required for this rejuvenated immunity. The up-regulation of DAF-16/FOXO and HSF-1 decreases the expression of the zip-10/bZIP transcription factor, which in turn down-regulates INS-7, an agonistic insulin-like peptide, resulting in further reduction of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS). Thus, reduced IIS prevents immune aging via the up-regulation of anti-aging transcription factors that modulate an endocrine insulin-like peptide through a feedforward mechanism. Because many functions of IIS are conserved across phyla, our study may lead to the development of strategies against immune aging in humans. Keywords Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Signal Transduction, Down-Regulation, Aging, Transcriptional Activation, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Insulin, Longevity, Receptor, Insulin, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, Up-Regulation, Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors Journal J Cell Biol Volume 220 Issue 5 Date Published 2021 May 03 ISSN Number 1540-8140 DOI 10.1083/jcb.202006174 Alternate Journal J Cell Biol PMCID PMC7941181 PMID 33666644 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML