On 6 and 7 August 2026, Professor Paul Hofman will take part in the international RISE for Healthy Aging conference in Bengaluru, India. He will present several IHU RespirERA research projects focusing on lung ageing, lung cancer in older adults and the mechanisms of cellular senescence.
An international conference on healthy ageing
The RISE for Healthy Aging conference will be held on 6 and 7 August 2026 at the J. N. Tata Auditorium of the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore. This second edition will bring together researchers, healthcare professionals, industry representatives and policymakers to discuss the scientific and medical challenges associated with healthy ageing.
The programme will explore the biological mechanisms of ageing, methods used to assess biological age and the ageing of different organs. One session will focus specifically on the ageing of the lungs and other organs. Professor Paul Hofman, Director of IHU RespirERA and Professor of Pathology at Université Côte d’Azur, is among the speakers announced by the conference organisers.
Understanding how ageing affects the lungs
His presentation, entitled “Aging in Lung Cancer: Current and Further Research Studies at the IHU RespirERA”, will highlight research conducted in Nice to improve understanding of how lung tissue changes with age.
One of RespirERA Institute’s scientific objectives is to study cellular senescence. This process occurs when cells stop dividing without being removed from the body. Their gradual accumulation can alter the way tissues function and contribute to the development of age-related diseases.
Researchers are examining the connections between these mechanisms, lung ageing and the exposome. The exposome refers to all the environmental and lifestyle factors to which a person is exposed throughout their life, including air pollution, smoking, occupational exposures and lifestyle habits.
RespirERA is also developing multimodal artificial intelligence approaches. These programmes aim to combine different types of data, such as clinical, biological, genomic and imaging data, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms shared by different chronic respiratory diseases.
Research projects focusing on lung cancer in older adults
Professor Hofman will present several ongoing projects developed by the institute. The first project is assessing a biological age signature in older patients with early-stage lung cancer. Unlike chronological age, biological age aims to reflect the functional condition of an individual’s body.
Researchers are investigating whether this signature could eventually help clinicians assess an older patient’s ability to receive the most intensive standard treatments. It could also help improve the inclusion of older patients in clinical trials. However, this remains a research objective and is not yet a tool available to guide treatment decisions.
A second project compares the genomic alterations found in lung cancers affecting patients over the age of 75 with those observed in younger populations. The aim is to determine whether certain molecular characteristics are more frequently associated with advanced age.
The teams are also studying genetic variations in genes involved in autophagy, the process through which cells remove and recycle some of their components. This research seeks to determine whether these variations could influence a person’s predisposition to lung cancer in the context of exposure to air pollution.
Exploring the relationship between senescence and the immune response
Another area of research focuses on GD3 ganglioside, a molecule found on the surface of certain cells. Researchers are investigating the hypothesis that its disialylated form could act as an immune checkpoint associated with senescence.
It may help certain senescent lung cells escape immune surveillance and reduce the immune system’s ability to respond. This potential mechanism remains under investigation and will need to be confirmed through further research.
Professor Hofman’s presentation in Bengaluru will provide an opportunity to share these research directions with the international scientific community and identify potential collaborations. These discussions will support further research into the connections between ageing, environmental exposure, immunity and lung cancer, which are closely related areas within RespirERA’s scientific programmes.
FR 
EN 