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"The Good and Bad Sides of a Protein Linked to Aging"
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Researchers discovered a surprising role for a protein involved in persistent inflammation, which can contribute to cell damage and diseases of aging such as cancer.
The protein, called cGAS, is a hot area of study, said Vera Gorbunova, PhD, the Doris Johns Cherry Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Rochester, and a Wilmot Cancer Institute member.
cGAS can detect misplaced DNA inside a cell and trigger inflammation. Since the immune system is closely linked to cancer activity, scientists are investigating cGAS in relation to this process.
Until now, they believed that by shutting down cGAS, it could slow aging. But in a new paper published in Nature Aging, the team discovered the opposite: removing cGAS made mice age faster.
The new findings suggest that cGAS has contradictory roles and understanding these roles could impact therapies designed to reduce age-related inflammation.
Read more about the discovery by Gorbunova’s lab with co-investigator Andrei Seluanov, PhD, a Dean’s professor of Biology at the University of Rochester.
Read More: "The Good and Bad Sides of a Protein Linked to Aging"