Publications de Davide D'Amico

The polyphenol metabolite urolithin A suppresses myostatin expression and augments glucose uptake in human skeletal muscle cells

Purpose Polyphenolic plant extracts have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects in vitro, however their meaningful translation into humans remains elusive. Urolithin A (UA), a gut-derived metabolite of ellagitannins, has shown promise fo ...

BMC2025

Urolithin A provides cardioprotection and mitochondrial quality enhancement preclinically and improves human cardiovascular health biomarkers

Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the primary cause of global mortality. Nutritional interventions hold promise to reduce CVD risks in an increasingly aging population. However, few nutritional interventions are proven to support heart health and act m ...

2025

Urolithin A abolishes high anxiety and rescues the associated mitochondria-related transcriptomic signatures and synaptic function

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Olivia Zanoletti, Jocelin Grosse, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Dogukan Hazar Ülgen, Davide D'Amico, Simone Astori

Background: Chronic anxiety is common, disabling, and often refractory to current therapies. Mounting evidence implicates mitochondrial abnormalities in anxiety-related phenotypes. Urolithin A (UA), a gut microbiota-derived metabolite known to enhance mito ...

Elsevier BV2025

Regional differences in progenitor metabolism shape brain growth during development

Davide D'Amico

Mammals have particularly large forebrains compared with other brain parts, yet the developmental mechanisms underlying this regional expansion remain poorly understood. Here, we provide a single-cell-resolution birthdate atlas of the mouse brain (www.neur ...

2025

Mitophagy Activation by Urolithin A to Target Muscle Aging

Davide D'Amico, Anurag Singh

The age-related loss of skeletal muscle function starts from midlife and if left unaddressed can lead to an impaired quality of life. A growing body of evidence indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction is causally involved with muscle aging. Muscles are ti ...

Springer2023

Tetracycline-induced mitohormesis mediates disease tolerance against influenza

Elena Katsyuba, Alexis Rapin, Johan Auwerx, Nicola Harris, Adrienne Joëlle Laurence Mottis, Davide D'Amico, Yang Li, Gaby El Alam

Mitohormesis defines the increase in fitness mediated by adaptive responses to mild mitochondrial stress. Tetracyclines inhibit not only bacterial but also mitochondrial translation, thus imposing a low level of mitochondrial stress on eukaryotic cells. We ...

AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC2022

Sphingolipids accumulate in aged muscle, and their reduction counteracts sarcopenia

Johan Auwerx, Maroun Bou Sleiman, Peiling Luan, Davide D'Amico, Pirkka-Pekka Untamo Laurila, Martin Rainer Wohlwend, Sébastien Robert Victor Herzig, Tanes Imamura de Lima, Qi Wang, Barbara Moreira Crisol

Age-related muscle dysfunction and sarcopenia are major causes of physical incapacitation in older adults and currently lack viable treatment strategies. Here we find that sphingolipids accumulate in mouse skeletal muscle upon aging and that both genetic a ...

2022

Impact of the Natural Compound Urolithin A on Health, Disease, and Aging

Johan Auwerx, Pénélope Andreux, Pamela Solange Valdés Undurraga, Davide D'Amico, Anurag Singh

Urolithin A (UA) is a natural compound produced by gut bacteria from ingested ellagitannins (ETs) and ellagic acid (EA), complex polyphenols abundant in foods such as pomegranate, berries, and nuts. UA was discovered 40 years ago, but only recently has its ...

2021

Direct supplementation with Urolithin A overcomes limitations of dietary exposure and gut microbiome variability in healthy adults to achieve consistent levels across the population

Patrick Aebischer, Johan Auwerx, Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico

Background Urolithin A (UA) is produced by gut microflora from foods rich in ellagitannins. UA has been shown to improve mitochondrial health preclinically and in humans. Not everyone has a microbiome capable of producing UA, making supplementation with UA ...

2021

Urolithin A improves muscle function by inducing mitophagy in muscular dystrophy

Johan Auwerx, Pénélope Andreux, Peiling Luan, Hao Li, Davide D'Amico, Pirkka-Pekka Untamo Laurila, Martin Rainer Wohlwend, Tanes Imamura de Lima

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscular dystrophy, and despite advances in genetic and pharmacological disease-modifying treatments, its management remains a major challenge. Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to DMD, yet the mecha ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2021

The RNA-Binding Protein PUM2 Impairs Mitochondrial Dynamics and Mitophagy During Aging

Bernard Schneider, Graham Knott, Kristina Schoonjans, Johan Auwerx, Adrienne Joëlle Laurence Mottis, Vera Monica Lemos Da Silva, Hao Li, Vincenzo Sorrentino, Davide D'Amico, Mario Romani, Francesca Potenza

Little information is available about how post-transcriptional mechanisms regulate the aging process. Here, we show that the RNA-binding protein Pumilio2 (PUM2), which is a translation repressor, is induced upon aging and acts as a negative regulator of li ...

CELL PRESS2019

Methods of treating or preventing an aging-related disease

Johan Auwerx, Davide D'Amico

The invention relates generally to methods, agents and pharmaceutical compositions for treating or preventing an aging-related disease by reducing the levels and/or activity of the RNA-binding protein PUM2. ...

2019

Enhancing mitochondrial proteostasis reduces amyloid-beta proteotoxicity

Adrian Schmid, Johan Auwerx, Norman Lionel Moullan, Hongbo Zhang, Solene Rietsch, Vincenzo Sorrentino, Davide D'Amico, Mario Romani, Francesca Potenza

Alzheimer's disease is a common and devastating disease characterized by aggregation of the amyloid-beta peptide. However, we know relatively little about the underlying molecular mechanisms or how to treat patients with Alzheimer's disease. Here we provid ...

2017

Parkin functionally interacts with PGC-1 proportional to to preserve mitochondria and protect dopaminergic neurons

Patrick Aebischer, Bernard Schneider, Graham Knott, Johan Auwerx, Darren Moore, Norman Lionel Moullan, Lu Zheng, Nathalie Marie Géraldine Bernard, Davide D'Amico

To understand the cause of Parkinson's disease (PD), it is important to determine the functional interactions between factors linked to the disease. Parkin is associated with autosomal recessive early-onset PD, and controls the transcription of PGC-1a, a m ...

Oxford University Press2017

Multi-omics analysis identifies ATF4 as a key regulator of the mitochondrial stress response in mammals

Johan Auwerx, Davide D'Amico

Mitochondrial stress activates a mitonuclear response to safeguard and repair mitochondrial function and to adapt cellular metabolism to stress. Using a multiomics approach in mammalian cells treated with four types of mitochondrial stressors, we identify ...

Rockefeller University Press2017

Cytosolic Proteostasis Networks of the Mitochondrial Stress Response

Johan Auwerx, Vincenzo Sorrentino, Davide D'Amico

Mitochondrial stress requires timely intervention to prevent mitochondria' and cellular dysfunction. Re-establishing the correct protein homeostasis is crucial for coping with mitochondria' stress and maintaining cellular homeostasis. The best-characterize ...

Elsevier Science London2017

NAD+ repletion improves mitochondrial and stem cell function and enhances life span in mice

Matthias Lütolf, Ruedi Aebersold, Kristina Schoonjans, Johan Auwerx, Dongryeol Ryu, Hongbo Zhang, Keir Joe Menzies, Karim Laurent Gariani, Xu Wang, Peiling Luan, Davide D'Amico

Adult stem cells (SCs) are essential for tissue maintenance and regeneration yet are susceptible to senescence during aging. We demonstrate the importance of the amount of the oxidized form of cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) and its imp ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2016

Translating Hedgehog in Cancer: Controlling Protein Synthesis

Davide D'Amico

Developmental Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is found deregulated in a broad spectrum of human malignancies and, thus, is an attractive target for cancer therapy. Currently available Hh inhibitors have shown the rapid occurrence of drug resistance, due to altered ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2016