Project Abstract – MAE-WEST SCORE LAC Over the course of life, chronic stressors contribute to multi-organ aging and dysfunction and, ultimately, the development of clinical disease. Sex remains a critical determinant of the nature and pace of aging and ultimately longevity. Among mammalian species, it is even more clear that females fundamentally age differently from males. With advancing chronologic age in humans, differences in biological aging between women and men become even more pronounced, culminating in the female predominance for a number of important morbid disease conditions, including notably Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD), and in turn systemic frailty. Mechanisms underlying the female predominance for these major morbidities remains unknown and are not explained by variations in sex hormones or survival bias. Our preliminary work supports a central hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in inflammatory eicosanoid mediators contribute to sex differences in microvascular dysfunction and, in turn, to sex differences in age-related multi-organ disease, including for ADRD, HFpEF and CKD. Elucidating a common pathophysiologic basis for the female predominance of ADRD, HFpEF, and CKD holds the key to effective interventions for reducing the excess burden of age-related disease in women. Motivated our findings and the critical need to understand the determinants and drivers of sex differences in major age-related disease outcomes, we propose to establish the Microvascular Aging and Eicosanoids – Women’s Evaluation of Systemic aging Tenacity (MAE-WEST) (“You are never too old to become younger!”) Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences, in response to NIH RFA-OD-19-013. Our goal is to form a robust and sustainable structure of academic activities centered on systematically interrogating sex differences in the relationship among eicosanoids, microvascular dysfunction, and age-related end-organ disease, with an initial focus on the microvascular aging effects on brain, heart, and kidney function. This goal will be achieved by an outstanding collaborative team of clinician-scientists (with expertise in geriatrics, cardiology, and nephrology), epidemiologists, basic and translational scientists, analytical chemists, biostatisticians, and bioinformaticians. Leveraging our collective experience, resources, and infrastructure, we will advance the scientific enterprise through 3 foundational projects aligned and complementary yet independent. To realize the full potential of this ambitious scientific and educational agenda, we have established a Leadership Administrative Core, for overseeing operations, fiduciary responsibility, and enabling efficiency. In establishing the MAE-WEST SCORE, we will extend from existing collaborations and formalize an organization of scientific and mentoring leadership that is intended to prioritize inter-institutional as well as inter-disciplinary integration of all activities, including routine sharing of research findings across the major areas of population, clinical, and basic science.

Project Narrative – MAE-WEST SCORE LAC With advancing age, women and men age differently; women suffering more from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, chronic kidney disease, and frailty. Recent work suggests that small blood vessel-related aging driven by chronic low-grade inflammation may be responsible for these aging disparities for women. The Leadership Administrative Core (LAC) in the Microvascular Aging and Eicosanoids – Women’s Evaluation of Systemic aging Tenacity (MAE-WEST) (“You are never too old to become younger!”) Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences will oversee the program operations, communications, budgets and regulatory practices to optimize the translation of findings to improve public health.