Aging—the most important collagen neoepitope?

Aging is a major risk factor for a wide range of chronic inflammatory diseases, The average life expectancy is increasing concurrently with a drastic rise in the prevalance of age-related diseases. Developing tools to identify individuals with accelerated aging and associated structural and functional alterations are essential to accompany the extended lifespan with an extended healthspan. This chapter provides an overview of the current knowledge of post-translational modifications (PTMs) related to aging and their implications in age-related diseases. Dysregulation of PTMs related to pathogenesis, involves both enzymatic and nonenzymatic PTMs (nePTMs). However, nePTMs tend to accumulate over time, in long-lived proteins such as collagens and are therefore of primary interest. The nePTMs associated with aging include isomerization, deamidation, glycation, oxidation, and carbamylation. Moreover, this chapter describes how nePTMs of extracelllular matrix (ECM) proteins can be targeted as biomarkers using the protein fingerprint technology to quantify levels of aged versus newly formed ECM.