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A team led by bioinformatician Andreas Keller at Saarland University, together with colleagues from Stanford University, has examined how spaceflight alters the exchange of genetic information within cells. They have published their findings in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
'Flights to the International Space Station (ISS) are stressful for astronauts in many ways. The rocket launch at enormous speed and the corresponding pressure on the body cause stress, while weightlessness changes blood circulation and causes the body to age differently. Radiation exposure in space is also increased,' says Andreas Keller, Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at Saarland University. His research team investigated exactly what changes in biological processes occur in space using microRNAs, which are short, non-coding sections of ribonucleic acid. These control the conversion of genetic information in cells. 'The blood samples taken from astronauts during previous space flights, for example for genetic analysis as part of the NASA twin study, were not sufficient for this purpose. We needed tissue samples from mammals,' explains Andreas Keller.
For past ISS missions, NASA sent several mice into space that were three and eight months old and could be compared with mice of the same age on Earth. The Saarbrücken research team, which worked closely with colleagues at the renowned Stanford University, received 686 small RNA samples from NASA. These came from 13 different organs of the mice, which had spent at least three weeks on the International Space Station . 'This generated huge amounts of data from gene sequencing, which we analysed using our bioinformatic methods. These analyses, for which we were able to draw on our many years of experience in the field of microRNAs, took over a year to complete,' explains Andreas Keller, who also heads a research group at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland.
The Saarbrücken-based team of scientists focused on the question of how tissue in the heart, brain, spleen, thymus and digestive tract changes under space conditions. 'We found that the physiological effects of space flight on humans are significant. A prolonged stay in weightlessness leads to symptoms similar to the degenerative diseases observed on Earth. These include muscle and bone loss, a weakened cardiovascular system and changes in the immune system,' explains Andreas Keller. In addition, the team observed that organs age differently in weightlessness, which presumably leads to faster ageing in astronauts. 'These effects intensify with the duration of the mission, which must be taken into account for future missions to Mars and beyond, which would last significantly longer. The goal now should be to identify biomarkers and therapeutic approaches through further research in order to mitigate the negative effects on astronauts,' explains Andreas Keller.
The research results were published in the renowned journal Nature Communications. The lead authors are Friederike Grandke and Shusruto Rishik. The work was conducted under the supervision of Professor Andreas Keller (Saarland University) and Professor Tony Wyss-Coray (Stanford University). A further publication on the patterns found in the gene sequencing is to follow in the spring.
Original publication:
Friederike Grandke, Shusruto Rishik, Viktoria Wagner, Annika Engel, Nicole Ludwig, Kruti Calcuttawala, Fabian Kern, Verena Keller, Marcin Krawczyk, Louis Stodieck, Virginia Ferguson, Amanda Roberts, Eckart Meese, Nicholas Schaum, Steven Quake, Tony Wyss-Coray & Andreas Keller: 'MiRNAs shape mouse age-independent tissue adaptation to spaceflight via ECM and developmental pathways' in : Nature Communications 17, 1387 (2026): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68737-1
Further information:
https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/
https://www.helmholtz-hips.de/de/forschung/people/person/prof-dr-andreas-keller/
Questions answered by:
Prof. Dr Andreas Keller
Email: andreas.keller(at)ccb.uni-saarland.de
Tel. +49 681 302 68611
