Adult stem cell maintenance and tissue regeneration in the ageing context: the role for A-type lamins as intrinsic modulators of ageing in adult stem cells and their niches.

Adult stem cells have been identified in most mammalian tissues of the adult body and are known to support the continuous repair and regeneration of tissues. A generalized decline in tissue regenerative responses associated with age is believed to result from a depletion and/or a loss of function of adult stem cells, which itself may be a driving cause of many age-related disease pathologies. Here we review the striking similarities between tissue phenotypes seen in many degenerative conditions associated with old age and those reported in age-related nuclear envelope disorders caused by mutations in the LMNA gene. The concept is beginning to emerge that nuclear filament proteins, A-type lamins, may act as signalling receptors in the nucleus required for receiving and/or transducing upstream cytosolic signals in a number of pathways central to adult stem cell maintenance as well as adaptive responses to stress. We propose that during ageing and in diseases caused by lamin A mutations, dysfunction of the A-type lamin stress-resistant signalling network in adult stem cells, their progenitors and/or stem cell niches leads to a loss of protection against growth-related stress. This in turn triggers an inappropriate activation or a complete failure of self-renewal pathways with the consequent initiation of stress-induced senescence. As such, A-type lamins should be regarded as intrinsic modulators of ageing within adult stem cells and their niches that are essential for survival to old age.