SYSTEMS, METHODS AND SOFTWARE FOR RANKING POTENTIAL GEROPROTECTIVE DRUGS

Abstract

The present invention provides improved systems, methods and software for determining a pathway activation strength in old subjects relative to young subjects of the same species, the method including collecting young subject transcriptome data and old subject transcriptome data for one species to evaluate pathway activation strength (PAS) and down-regulation strength for a plurality of biological pathways, mapping the plurality of biological pathways for the activation strength and down-regulation strength from old subject samples relative to young subject samples to form a pathway cloud map and providing a gero-protective rating for each of a plurality of drugs in accordance with a drug rating for minimizing signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD) in the pathway cloud map of the one species to provide a ranking of the gero-protective drugs.

Claims

1. A computer software product, said product configured for ranking gero-protective drugs, the product comprising a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to: a. collect young subject transcriptome data and old subject transcriptome data for one species to evaluate pathway activation strength (PAS) and down-regulation strength for a plurality of biological pathways; b. map said plurality of biological pathways for said activation strength and down-regulation strength from old subject samples relative to young subject samples to form a pathway cloud map; and c. provide a gero-protective rating for each of a plurality of drugs in accordance with a drug rating for minimizing signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD) in said pathway cloud map of said one species to provide a ranking of said gero-protective drugs.

2. A computer software product according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of biological pathways are signaling pathways.

3. A computer software product according to claim 2, wherein said signaling pathways are affected by at least one ageing process.

4. A computer software product according to claim 3, wherein said software product is adapted to draw a line for each individual signaling pathway.

5. A computer software product according to claim 4, wherein said software product is adapted to construct said pathway cloud map comprising at least one of old versus young and young versus old.

6. A computer software product according to claim 5, wherein said pathway cloud map comprises a first region of upregulated pathways and a second region of down-regulated pathways.

7. A computer software product according to claim 6, wherein said first region is depicted in a first color and said second region is depicted in a second color.

8. A computer software product according to claim 7, wherein said software product runs a pathway activation strength (PAS) algorithm.

9. A computer software product according to claim 8, wherein said pathway activation strength is calculated in accordance with $\mathrm{SO}=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.{\left[\mathrm{AGEL}\right]}_i}{\underset{j=1}{\overset{M}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.{\left[\mathrm{RGEL}\right]}_j}.$ wherein [AGEL].sub.i is an activator gene expression level and [RGEL].sub.j is a repressor gene expression level) are expression level of activators gene No i and No j, respectively.

10. A computer software product according to claim 9, wherein said SPCD is a ratio of [AGEL]I, which is the activator gene #i expression level, to [RGEL]j, which is the repressor gene #j expression level, and wherein this is calculated for activator and repressor proteins in said pathway.

11. A computer software product according to claim 1, wherein said source of data for young and old subjects is proteome analysis results.

12. A computer software product according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of biological pathways includes signaling circuits implicated in at least one ageing process.

13. A computer software product according to claim 1, configured to collect personal medical history data of a patient and map all interventions encountered by said patient to the pathway cloud disturbance results.

14. A system for ranking gero-protective drugs, the system comprising: a. a processor adapted to activate a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the processor to: i. collect young subject transcriptome data and old subject transcriptome data for one species to evaluate pathway activation strength (PAS) and down-regulation strength for a plurality of biological pathways; ii. map said plurality of biological pathways for said activation strength and down-regulation strength from old subject samples relative to young subject samples to form a pathway cloud map; and iii. provide a geroprotective rating for each of a plurality of drugs in accordance with a drug rating for minimizing signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD) in said pathway cloud map of said one species to provide a ranking of said gero-protective drugs; and b. a memory for storing said data, said pathway cloud map, SPCD and said ranking; and c. a display for displaying said pathway cloud map.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein said display is adapted to show said ranking by at least one of color, line thickness and visual indicia.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein said pathway cloud map shows at least one upregulated/activated pathway and at least one downregulated pathway of said old subject relative to said young subject.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein said pathway cloud map is based on a plurality of young subjects and a plurality of old subjects.

18. A system according to claim 14, wherein said samples are bodily samples selected from the group consisting of a blood sample, a urine sample, a biopsy, a hair sample, a nail sample, a breathe sample, a saliva sample and a skin sample.

19. A system according to claim 14, wherein said pathway activation strength is calculated in accordance with $\mathrm{SO}=\frac{\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.{\left[\mathrm{AGEL}\right]}_i}{\underset{j=1}{\overset{M}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.{\left[\mathrm{RGEL}\right]}_j}.$ wherein [AGEL]i is an activator gene expression level and [RGEL]j is a repressor gene expression level) are expression level of activators gene No i and No j, respectively.

20. A system according to claim 14, wherein said SPCD is a ratio of [AGEL]I, which is the activator gene #i expression level, to [RGEL]j, which is the repressor gene #j expression level, and wherein this is calculated for activator and repressor proteins in said pathway.

21. A system according to claim 14, wherein memory comprises a drug database comprising: a. data pertaining to said plurality of drugs of known molecular targets; b. drug rating data; c. drug ranking data; and d. drug testing data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.

[0053] With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

[0054] In the drawings:

[0055] FIG. 1A is a simplified flowchart for ranking potential gero-protective drugs in the effective treatment of an individual subject, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0056] FIG. 1B shows an equation for evaluating the pathway activation strength (PAS) for each individual pathway, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0057] FIG. 1C is a schematic of a method for constructing a pathway cloud (PC), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0058] FIG. 1D is an equation of a method for screening for drugs or combinations that minimize the signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0059] In all the figures similar reference numerals identify similar parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0060] In the detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these are specific embodiments and that the present invention may be practiced also in different ways that embody the characterizing features of the invention as described and claimed herein.

[0061] Reference is now made to FIG. 1A, which is a simplified flowchart 100 of a method for ranking potential gero-protective drugs in the effective treatment of an individual subject, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Using signaling pathway cloud regulation for theoretical in-silico gero-protector identification and ranking

[0062] In a first collecting step 102, transcriptome data from young and old patients is collected and stored in a suitable database.

[0063] In a mapping step 104, the gene expression data collected in step 102 is mapped onto signaling pathways, which are affected by aging processes.

[0064] In an evaluating step 106, the activation or down-regulation strength for each individual pathway is defined, providing one line per pathway.

[0065] Thereafter, in a cloud construction step 108, a cloud for old versus young and/or young versus old is constructed.

[0066] The lines are curved as upper halves of circles/ellipses and marked in green, for example, to denote up-regulation. Down-regulated pathways are lines curved as lower halves of circles/ellipses and marked in red, for example. Thus sets of upregulated and down-regulated paths are seen in FIG. 1C hereinbelow.

[0067] Thereafter for a number of drugs, the gero-protective rating of each drug which minimizes the signaling disturbance of the pathway cloud is determined in a gero-protective rating calculation step 110.

[0068] In one or more testing steps, 112, 114, the prediction of step 110 is tested in vivo in laboratory animals and in human species, respectively. The outputs of steps 112, 114 are testing data confirming the ratings of step 110.

[0069] A checking step 116 is performed to compare the ratings of step 110 to actual testing data.

[0070] If the testing data confirms the rating of step 110, a new drug is added to in an adding drug step 122. The data associated with the new drug is added to a database of drugs with known molecular targets in adding new drug step 118. Its potency to provide gero-protection is calculated in step 110 and it is then tested in steps 112-114. Step 114 is repeated and then, according to its results, steps 116-118 or 120, 106-114 again.

[0071] If the testing data does not match the predicted rating from step 110, the algorithm is adjusted in adjusting step 120 and steps 106-114 are repeated for that drug.

[0072] FIG. 1B shows an equation 130 of a method for evaluating the pathway activation strength (PAS) for each individual pathway, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0073] Pathway Activation Strength (PAS) algorithm. To obtain the values of Old (case)-to-Young ratio, OYRn, one just has to divide the expression levels for a gene n in the tumor of a cancer patient by the same average value for the control healthy group. The discrete value of ARR (activator/repressor role) equals to the following numbers:

[0074] 1, when the gene/protein n is a repressor of pathway excitation;

[0075] 1, if the gene/protein n is an activator of pathway excitation;

[0076] 0, when the gene/protein n can be both an activator and a repressor of signal transduction;

[0077] 0.5 and 0.5, respectively, if the gene/protein n is more an activator or repressor of the signaling pathway p.

[0078] The Boolean flag of BTIF (beyond tolerance interval flag) equals to zero when the CNR value lies within the tolerance limit, and to one when otherwise. During the current study, we have admitted that the CNR lies beyond the tolerance limit if it satisfies simultaneously the two criteria. First, it either higher than 3/2 or lower than 2/3, and, second, the expression level for a corresponding gene from a cancer sample of an individual patient differs by more than two standard deviations from the average expression level for the same gene from a set of analogous normal tissue samples.

[0079] FIG. 1C is a schematic of a method for constructing a pathway cloud (PC, 150), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0080] A young person's cells' profile 152 is placed at one end of the pathways. The upregulated pathways 156 appear above an invisible horizontal axis and the down-regulated pathways 158 appear therebelow. Both the upregulated pathways 156 and down-regulated pathways 158 connect to the old person's cells' profile 154. According to some embodiments, the young person's cells' profile 152 is marked in green and the old person's cells' profile 154 is marked in red

[0081] FIG. 1D is an equation 160 of a method for screening for drugs or combinations that minimize the signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0082] [AGEL]i is the activator gene #i expression level

[0083] [RGEL]jis the repressor gene #j expression level

[0084] Here the multiplication is done over all possible activator and repressor proteins in the pathway, and [AGEL]i and [RGEL]j are gene expression levels of an activator i and repressor j, respectively.

[0085] We theorize that in order to be effective, the gero-protector or a combination of gero-protectors must regulate the pathway cloud in a way that minimizes the difference in the net differences in pathway activation or down-regulation between samples of young and old patients. Small molecules and other factors that may influence gene expression may be ranked by their ability to minimize the net difference between the pathway activation profiles of young and old cells. The algorithms for calculating the ability of the potential gero-protector to minimize signaling disturbance may be parametric and account for the effects on specific targets within signaling pathways or machine learned.

[0086] We propose a new hypothetical approach for identifying and rating the variety of factors including small molecules, proteins, stress factors and conditions with the known effects on the transcriptomes of one or more cell or tissue types or known targets (FIG. 1A). The approach may be used for general gero-protector screening, but after the validation of the algorithms in-vivo and in-vitro may be expanded to identify and predict the efficacy of personalized gero-protector regiments for individual patients based on the transcriptome information from various tissue biopsies and blood.

[0087] The generic gero-protector rating approach involves collecting the transcriptome datasets from young and old patients and normalizing the data for each cell and tissue type, evaluating the pathway activation strength (PAS) for each individual pathway (FIG. 1B) and constructing the pathway cloud (PC, FIG. 1C) and screen for drugs or combinations that minimize the signaling pathway cloud disturbance (SPCD, FIG. 1D) by acting on one or multiple elements of the pathway cloud. Drugs and combinations may be rated by their ability to return the signaling pathway activation pattern closer to that of the younger tissue samples. The predictions may be then tested both in vitro and in vivo on human cells and on model organisms such as rodents, nematodes and flies to validate the screening and rating algorithms.

[0088] Longevity studies in higher mammals take several years and decades and may cost millions of dollars. An intelligent process for predicting the activity and ranking the gero-protective activity of various factors and strengthening the prediction in rapid and cost-effective studies on cell cultures and model organisms may help increase the longevity dividend of these studies.

[0089] Gene Module Analysis is a frequently used instrument of bioinformatics. This approach makes it possible to compare and analyze in depth the experimental data obtained with transcriptome-wide analytic methods like microarray profiling and/or deep sequencing of the transcriptomes. Gene modules are gathered basing on the gene functions, on the presence of specific cis- and trans-regulatory motifs necessary for binding with proteins like transcriptional factors or different RNA molecules, or on the participation of genes in certain regulatory, biochemical or signaling pathways, including those regulating the efficiency of drug treatment of the patients.

[0090] Other popular tools for the Module Analysis are Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) (http://www.broad.mit.edu/gsea/) and Ingenuity Pathway analysis software (http://www.ingenuity.com/). Several other databases and instruments for the pathway analysis are presented on the Tables 1 and 2.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Open-access online resources enabling analytic instrumental studies of the data of comparative and functional genomics. Analytic instrument Web link Bioconductor http://www.bioconductor.org GenePattern http://www.broadinstitute.org/genepattern Gene Ontology http://www.geneontology.org/ GO.tools.microarray.shtml UCSC Cancer Genome https://genome-cancer.soe.ucsc.edu Browser Integrative Genomics Viewer http://www.broadinstitute.org/igv (IGV) The Cancer Genomics http://cbioportal.org Pathway Portal Gene Set Enrichment Analysis http://www.broad.mit.edu/gsea/ Ingeniuty Pathway http://www.ingenuity.com/

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Disease and longevity genomics databases. Type of the information Database Type of the in the Access to name Web link data.sup.1 database the database ICGC http://dcc.icgc.org/ Level I-IV Data on the Free copy number subscription- variation, based DNA rearrangements, gene expression and mutations TCGA http://cancergenome.nih.gov/dataportal Level I-III Data on the Free copy number subscription- variation, based mRNA and micro RNA expression, gene promoter methylation and mutations of genes NCBI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap Level I-II Untreated Free dbGAP deep subscription- sequencing based data COSMIC http://www.sanger.ac.uk/genetics/CGP/cosmic Level III-IV Data on Open somatic mutations, gene copy number variation and linked diseases, literature references Cancer http://www.sanger.ac.uk/genetics/CGP/Census Level IV Data on gene Open Gene mutations Census WTSI CGP http://www.sanger.ac.uk/genetics/CGP/Archive Level I-II Repository Free of Sanger subscription- sequencing based data, SNP data EGA http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ega Level I-II Deep Free sequencing subscription- data based Tumorscape http://www.broadinstitute.org/tumorscape Level I-IV Microarray Open data browser for SNP analysis Oncomine http://www.oncomine.org Level IV Data on gene Password- expression protected and copy number variation GEO http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo Level I Data on gene Password- expression protected caArray http://caarray.nci.nih.gov Level I Data on gene Password- expression protected UCSC https://genome-cancer.soe.ucsc.edu Level III-IV Gene Open Cancer expression Genome and copy Browser number variation in cancer data browser The cBio http://cbioportal.org Level III-IV Gene Open Cancer expression Genomics and copy Portal number variation in cancer data browser OMIM http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim Database of Open inheritable syndromes and genes having phenotypic manifestations supplemented by thorough thematic scientific literature reviews Mitelman http://cgap.nci.nih.gov/Chromosomes/Mitelman Data on gene Open copy number variations and genetic translocations based on cytogenetic studies .sup.1Type of the data: Level I - untreated data, Level II - normalized/treated data, Level III - interpreted data, Level IV - summarized data.

[0091] However, the existing published bioinformatic instruments cannot be applied efficiently for the complex quantitative analysis of transcriptome-wide data. This estimate is necessary for scoring activation and/or down-regulation of the intracellular signaling pathways in the individual tissue samples and, consequently, to conclude what biological processes may be related to the investigated physiological conditions, e.g. aging. Such an analysis may show what molecular events led to a certain physiological condition, e.g. senescence, identify a type of most effective therapeutic, to predict or follow the success the therapy and to set a prognosis for the progression of the physiological effect under investigation.

[0092] The present invention includes an algorithm of the analysis of transcriptome data for the estimation of aberrant changes in the aging cells and tissues. These changes may represent either activation or down-regulation of the signaling pathways. The transcriptome data may be obtained from either databases or from the experimental high-throughput techniques like microarray hybridization or deep sequencing of mRNA or cDNA libraries obtained for the investigated and control samples (e.g. tissue samples taken from the young healthy donors).

[0093] The starting data should contain the following information: [0094] a) the content of gene products forming any particular signaling pathway; [0095] b) Roles of the individual gene products in a given pathway, highlighted by a specific coefficient according to FIG. 1 and Table 3.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Roles of the individual gene products in the signaling pathway Contradictory Functional Ac- Rather Rather data or no role tivator Repressor activator repressor information Co- 1 1 0.5 0.5 0 efficient [0096] c) data on the final functional outcome of the signaling pathway activation:
coefficient corresponding to the overall role of a given signaling pathway in the aging (Table 4).

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Functional outcomes of the individual signaling pathways in aging Contradictory Promotes data or no Role in aging aging Inhibits aging information Coefficient 1 1 0

[0097] The data analysis can be performed using specific software enabling the following operations:

[0098] 1) Identification of the differentially expressed genes. The software automatically identified differentially expressed genes in the investigated (e.g. aging) tissue sample, relatively to the control (e.g. younger) tissue samples. The software asks the user to define what sample(s) is/are control and what are the tester samples under investigation. Consequently, the statistical analysis modules, e.g. based on the pairwise t-test, or on the Bayesian criterion, enable identification of the differential genes (p<0.05), whose expression is either increased or decreased in the sample. Other cut-off p value scores may be used for the analysis, depending on the tasks of an individual study. For the sampling of normal tissues, the software also calculates mean values of the expression signal. Further calculations require the experimentally defined ratio(s)

[0099] For further calculations, we propose to use the ratio of the experimentally observed signal in the sample under investigation, to the mean value of the signal in the pool of the control samples (case-to-normal ratio, CNRn), at that this value for the non-differential genes equals 1. Non-differential genes here are the genes, for which the quantitative characteristics of gene expression belongs to the multitude of quantitative characteristics of gene expression for the normal (control) samples with the probability that exceeds a threshold value defined by the user of the technology, e.g. widely used cut-off value p=0.05.

[0100] 2) Estimation of the signaling pathway activation. This estimation is performed according to the following formulae:

[0101] The overall value of the relative activation of the signaling pathway (pathway activation strength, PAS), which is used to determine the degree of apparent changes in the pathway:

PAS.sub.p=NII.sub.npARR.sub.npBTIF.sub.nlg(CNR.sub.n)

[0102] where p is the individual pathway and n is the individual gene product involved in the pathway p.

[0103] The value beyond tolerance interval flag (BTIF) is either equal to 0, when CNRn lays within the confidence interval for the controls, or equal to 1 when CNRn lays outside this confidence interval

[0104] The CNR values are calculated using the statistically treated or untreated input data obtained from the device scanning gene product expression, e.g. next generation sequencers, microarray expression scanners, and various proteome analyzing devices.

[0105] For performing this type of analysis, it is important to create and manage signaling pathway database(s), which may include the following information:

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Structure of the database of an individual signaling pathway Field number Field definition 1 Identifier of a gene encoding for the protein - participant of the signaling pathway functioning 2 Name of the gene encoding for the protein - participant of the signaling pathway functioning 3 Name of the related protein or protein complex involved in the signaling pathway 4 ARR (see above)

[0106] Among these groups of data, the following are mandatory required for performing the PAS analysis for each pathway: (i) name of the gene encoding for the proteinparticipant of the signaling pathway functioning, (ii) ARR.

[0107] The present invention is illustrated by the examples. The invention is not limited by these examples, but includes any additional alternative embodiments, modifications and equivalents, applicable basing on the main points of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

[0108] Analysis of activation levels for the Notch-signaling pathway in the aged (60-83 years old) versus younger (17-29 years old) human male bladder tissue samples.

[0109] We created a database of gene products implicated in its functioning along with their functional role reflected by the ARR value (Table 6).

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Database of the genes involved in functioning of the Notch signaling pathway Gene Corresponding Identifier Gene name protein name ARR 1 NOTCH1 NOTCH1 1 2 NOTCH2 NOTCH2 1 3 NOTCH2NL NOTCH2NL 1 4 NOTCH3 NOTCH3 1 5 NOTCH4 NOTCH4 1 6 DLL1 DLL1 1 7 DLL3 DLL3 1 8 DLL4 DLL4 1 9 DTX1 DTX1 1 10 JAG1 JAG1 1 11 JAG2 JAG2 1 12 LFNG LFNG 1 13 MFNG MFNG 1 14 NUMB NUMB 1 15 RFNG RFNG 1 16 ADAM10 ADAM10 1 17 ADAM17 CD156B 1 18 NCSTN NCSTN 1 19 PSEN1 PSEN1 1 20 PSEN2 PSEN2 1 21 PSENEN PEN2 1 22 EP300 EP300 1 23 HDAC1 HDAC1 1 24 MAML1 MAML1 1 25 MAML2 MAML2 1 26 NCOR2 NCOR2 1 27 SNW1 SKIIP 1

[0110] The samples of human bladder were obtained from post-mortal tissue samples obtained from adult donors killed in road accidents. The samples were obtained in all cases with the written consents of the authorized persons according to EU and local ethical guidelines. Nine 17-29 y.o. (mean value24 y.o.) bladder samples and eleven 60-83 y.o. (mean value73 y.o.) bladder samples were obtained and further analyzed. Gene expression was investigated with the Illumina HT12 v4 gene expression microarrays (Illumina, USA). In such a way we profiled expression of the genes implicated in the functioning of the Notch pathway (Table 2). Using Student statistical criterion and a threshold p-value <0.05, we identified a list of the differential genes and calculated for them CNRn values. The set of gene expression data corresponding to the younger group of samples was taken as the control. These data were processed with the algorithm for the calculation of PAS, and the following Notch pathway activation data were obtained (Table 7).

TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Pathway activation strength (PAS) scores calculated for the aging human bladder tissue specimens Tissue sample ID PAS (Notch) Age, y.o. 1 15 60 2 3 72 3 29 75 4 0 68 5 4 66 6 34 81 7 19 83 8 0 78 9 6 76 10 7 71 11 21 78 Mean 12.5454545 73.45455 Standard 11.84367879 6.875517 deviation

[0111] Conclusion: we observed decreased PAS for the Notch signaling pathway in the group of older donors compared to the group of younger donors (taken as the control group).

EXAMPLE 2

[0112] Analysis of activation levels for the ten signaling pathways in the aged (65-89 years old) versus younger (17-33 years old) human female kidney samples.

[0113] We analyzed PAS for the following signaling pathways: AHR, AKT, Circadian, DNA repair mechanisms, EGFR, ERK signaling, Estrogen pathway, FLT3, Growth hormone, Hedgehog. The information about pathway configuration and functional roles of the individual genes was taken from the public database provided by SABiosciences (SABiosciences, a Qiagen company. URL: http://www.sabiosciences.com/pathwaycentral.php (retrieved on Aug. 13, 2013).

[0114] The samples of human kidney were obtained from post-mortal tissue samples obtained from adult donors killed in road accidents. The samples were obtained in all cases with the written consents of the authorized persons according to EU and local ethical guidelines. Eight 17-33 y.o. (mean value26 y.o.) bladder samples and eleven 65-89 y.o. (mean value77 y.o.) kidney samples were obtained and further analyzed. Gene expression was investigated with the Illumina HT12 v4 gene expression microarrays (Illumina, USA). In such a way we profiled expression of the genes implicated in the functioning of the ten signaling pathways listed above. Using Student statistical criterion and a threshold p-value <0.05, we identified a list of the differential genes and calculated for them CNRn values. The set of gene expression data corresponding to the younger group of samples was taken as the control. These data were processed with the algorithm for the calculation of PAS, and the following pathway activation data were obtained (Table 8).

TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Pathway activation strength (PAS) scores calculated for the aging human kidney specimens Tissue Age, DNA sample ID y.o. AHR AKT Circadian repair EGFR ERK Estrogen FLT3 GH Hedgehog 1 65 12 4 9 14 8 42 21 0 34 5 2 80 4 6 15 3 0 17 0 3 25 9 3 66 31 3 4 21 0 74 9 0 11 15 4 74 19 11 8 0 13 48 15 8 23 16 5 79 8 17 21 30 9 12 25 5 16 3 6 74 9 0 4 6 0 26 29 12 10 9 7 82 1 9 13 5 3 53 7 0 44 21 8 79 34 6 8 1 0 30 37 0 7 6 9 76 0 7 7 0 14 17 0 7 39 8 10 89 14 12 8 12 1 23 8 6 27 11 11 79 22 0 12 11 0 36 26 9 14 3 Mean 76.636 14 6.818 9.909 9.181 4.364 34 16.090 4.5 22.7 9.636 Standard 6.874 11.437 5.193 5.029 9.724 5.572 18.67 12.340 4.251 12.39 5.714 deviation

[0115] Conclusion: The analysis enabled us to identify upregulated and downregulated signaling pathways in the female aging kidney samples. ERK, Estrogen, Growth hormone, DNA repair, AKT, EGFR and FLT3 pathways appeared to be downregulated in the older female kidney tissue samples. In contrast, the pathways AHR, Circadian and Hedgehod were upregulated in the older kidney samples.

EXAMPLE 3

[0116] Evaluation of the geroprotector activity of the chemicals on human fibroblasts.

[0117] The culture of human fibroblasts was isolated from skin of a healthy adult male donor and cultured for five passages in DMEM/F12 medium supplemented by 10% FBS. The tissue sample was obtained with the written consent of a donor according to EU and local ethical guidelines. An aliquot containing 10 million cells was frozen in liquid nitrogen (aliquot A), whereas the remaining part of the cell culture was grown for 20 additional passages in the same medium. The cells were then harvested and stored in liquid nitrogen (aliquot B). Aliquot B cells were then cultured for two additional passages and then cultured for 48 hours in the presence of four putative geroprotector drugs. The resulting cells were harvested (aliquot C). The transcriptomes of the aliquots A, B and C were investigated with the Illumina HT12 v4 gene expression microarrays (Illumina, USA). In such a way we profiled expression of the genes implicated in the functioning of the following ten signaling pathways: AHR, AKT, Circadian, DNA repair mechanisms, EGFR, ERK signaling, Estrogen pathway, FLT3, Growth hormone, Hedgehog. The information about pathway configuration and functional roles of the individual genes was taken from the public database provided by SABiosciences (SABiosciences, a Qiagen company. Using Student statistical criterion and a threshold p-value <0.05, we identified a list of the differential genes and calculated for them CNR.sub.n values. The set of gene expression data corresponding to the aliquot A group of samples was taken as the control. The data were processed with the algorithm for the calculation of PAS, and the following pathway activation data were obtained (Table 9).

TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 9 Pathway activation strength (PAS) scores calculated for the human fibroblasts cultured in the presence or in the absence of putative gero-protector chemicals. Gero- Circa- DNA Hedge- Sampler protector AHR AKT dian repair EGFR ERK Androgen FLT3 GH hog Aliquot none 6 16 7 9 19 29 17 2 9 16 B Aliquot none 8 19 4 14 22 30 24 0 9 20 C1 Aliquot Spermi- 3 10 5 10 15 45 25 1 9 17 C2 dine 1 mM Aliquot Spermi- 2 12 8 10 16 56 19 0 9 18 C3 dine 1 mM Aliquot Wort-mannin 1 11 6 8 13 14 15 3 7 12 C4 0.5 mM Aliquot Wort-mannin 2 9 5 9 14 11 18 1 9 10 C5 0.5 mM Aliquot Res- 3 6 4 2 6 3 7 2 5 9 C6 veratrol 1 mM Aliquot Res- 3 5 3 1 5 6 11 3 4 11 C7 veratrol 1 mM Aliquot Lonid- 2 7 5 5 5 8 4 1 11 17 C8 amine 5 mM Aliquot Lonid-amine 4 8 7 8 9 9 6 1 15 22 C9 5 mM

[0118] Zero PAS value means identical signaling pathway activation pattern in the older (aliquots B and C) and younger (aliquot A) fibroblasts. Negative and positive PAS mean, respectively, downregulated and upregulated pathway in the older fibroblasts. The present invention proposes ranking of the geroprotector drugs according to their ability to compensate aging-related differences in signaling pathway activation reflected by the PAS values.

[0119] We observed that among the four tested gero-protectors, PAS patterns were better reverted to the younger state by 1 mM Resveratrol (7/10 of the pathways tested). Resveratrol can be, therefore, considered as the best putative geroprotector drug in this combined experimental and biomathematical system for human skin fibroblasts.

[0120] Some embodiments of the present invention are directed to gero-protective drugs, defined in accordance with the method of maximizing at least one gero-protective characteristic, as described herein.

[0121] Some further embodiments of the present invention are directed to gero-protective drugs combinations or formulations, defined in accordance with the method of maximizing at least one gero-protective characteristic of a plurality of drugs, as described herein.

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[0158] The references cited herein teach many principles that are applicable to the present invention. Therefore the full contents of these publications are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background

[0159] It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details set forth in the description contained herein or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications and changes can be applied to the embodiments of the invention as hereinbefore described without departing from its scope, defined in and by the appended claims.