Aging is partly due to the aging of the cells that make up the body.Preventing the accumulation of senescent cells can improve or prevent age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes, but it has not been put into practical use due to problems such as side effects.The research team examined vitamin B2 (riboflavin) to realize a low-cost and safe anti-aging drug.

　Through research, we discovered a phenomenon in which human cells do not age immediately even when they are subjected to aging stress, and show resistance to cellular aging by increasing the production of a protein (SLC2A52) that takes up vitamin B1 into the cells.It was also found that cells subjected to aging stress temporarily activate mitochondria, but fall into an aging state due to decreased activity.Therefore, increasing the vitamin B2 content in the culture medium maintains the active state of mitochondria and maintains aging resistance.Conversely, when mitochondria that act on energy production were suppressed, the enzyme AMPK, which detected energy deficiency, was activated, and the protein p53 was instructed to stop cell division, leading to an aging state.It was revealed that vitamin B2 activates mitochondria and suppresses the action of AMPK and p53 to suppress cellular senescence.

　Vitamin B2 can be easily taken from diets and supplements, and even if it is overdose, it is quickly excreted from the body.If the cell aging inhibitory effect of vitamin B2 is applied, it is expected to develop as a simple and safe therapeutic agent for age-related diseases.In the future, it is said that it will proceed with verification research of the anti-aging effect of vitamin B2 in animal experiments toward the practical application of therapeutic agents.

Paper information:[Molecular Biology of the Cell] Riboflavin transporter SLC52A1, a target of p53, suppresses cellular senescence by activating mitochondrial complex II