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PILLAR 5—EXTRACELLULAR JUNK

As you age, waste products called extracellular aggregates build up both inside and outside your cells. Of the waste products that accumulate outside your cells, the main culprits are dysfunctional, misshapen proteins usually called amyloids. When amyloids start to accumulate, they stick together and form plaques that cause aging and disease by “gumming up the works” and getting in the way of healthy cellular interaction.

You can think of amyloids like the gunk clogging a sink. When you’re young, you won’t notice the impact—a single hair slips easily down a drain. But eventually, as more and more gunk accumulates in the pipes, water dissipates more and more slowly. It’s that gradual process that slowly wears you down as you age.

You’ve probably heard that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have a type of plaque (in this case called beta-amyloids, a type of protein aggregate) in their brains. But long before you develop Alzheimer’s, these same plaques can impair cognitive function. In the case of type 2 diabetes, one type of protein aggregate called islet amyloid inhibits insulin secretion. Protein aggregates also cause stiffening in the heart. This is called senile cardiac amyloidosis and is a major cause of heart failure.