Aging STINGs: mitophagy at the crossroads of neuroinflammation

Loss of proteostasis and dysregulated mitochondrial function are part of the traditional hallmarks of aging, and in their last revision impaired macroautophagy and chronic inflammation are also included. Mitophagy is at the intersection of all these processes but whether it undergoes age-associated perturbations was not known. In our recent work, we performed a systematic and systemic analysis of mitolysosome levels in mice and found that, despite the already-known decrease in non-selective macroautophagy, mitophagy remains stable or increases upon aging in all tissues analyzed and is mediated by the PINK1-PRKN-dependent pathway. Further analyses revealed a concomitant increase in mtDNA leakage into the cytosol and activation of the CGAS-STING1 inflammation axis. Notably, both phenomena are also observed in primary fibroblasts from aged human donors. We hypothesized that mitophagy might be selectively upregulated during aging to improve mitochondrial fitness and reduce mtDNA-induced inflammation. Treatment with the mitophagy inducer urolithin A alleviates age-associated neurological decline, including improved synaptic connectivity, cognitive memory and visual function. Supporting our initial hypothesis, urolithin A reduces the levels of cytosolic mtDNA, CGAS-STING1 activation and neuroinflammation. Finally, using an in vitro model of mitochondrial membrane permeabilization we validated that PINK1-PRKN-mediated mitophagy is essential to resolve cytosolic mtDNA-triggered inflammation. These findings open up an integrative approach to tackle aging and increase healthspan via mitophagy induction.