Defense-oriented inflammatory reactivity supports survival at younger age, but might contribute to health impairments in modern, aging societies. The IL-1 cytokines are highly conserved and regulated, pleiotropic mediators of inflammation, essential to respond adequately to infection and tissue damage, but also with potential host damaging effects when left unresolved. In this review, we discuss how continuous low-level IL-1 signaling contributes to aging-associated hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) functional impairments and how this inflammatory selective pressure acts as a driver of more profound hematological alterations, such as clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), and to overt HSPC diseases, like myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic neoplasia as well as acute myeloid leukemia. Based on this, we outline how IL-1 pathway inhibition might be utilized to prevent or treat "inflamm-aging" associated HSPC pathologies.
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