Physical exercise as a modulator of the anti-ageing Klotho protein: health-related cardiometabolic implications. The FIT-AGEING study

Abstract

Since the discovery of the Klotho gene as a suppressor of several ageing phenotypes, numerous studies have focussed on elucidating the molecular pathways that mediate the effects of its expression on cellular ageing-related processes. However, the role of the shed form of the Klotho protein on physical fitness, energy metabolism and cardiometabolic health has not been deeply studied. Moreover, there is a biological base supporting the hypothesis that physical exercise could induce an increment of S-Klotho, resulting in one of the still unrecognized physiological mechanism that can explain the exercise benefits on the ageing process. The main aims of this International Doctoral Thesis are to study the association of S-Klotho with physical fitness, energy metabolism and cardiometabolic health, and to study the effect of different exercise training programs on S-Klotho, as well as on physical fitness, energy metabolism, and cardiometabolic health in sedentary middle-aged adults. In summary, the results show that S-Klotho plays a key role on physical fitness, energy metabolism and cardiometabolic health in sedentary middle-aged adults, and that exercise training modulates S-Klotho, as well as physical fitness, energy metabolism and cardiometabolic health. These findings may partially explain some of the unknown exercise-induced effects on cardiometabolic health as well as on the human ageing process.