Yi He
Endocrinology researcher in Xuefeng Yu's group at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan who studies the liver- and fat-derived hormone ANGPTL8 in aging and diabetes
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (papers 2024–2026)
Yi He is first author of the Atlas study HE2026, with Xuefeng Yu as senior author. ANGPTL8 is a hormone-like protein released into the blood that helps control fat and sugar metabolism. In a large human cohort, higher ANGPTL8 levels went along with an older biological age and a higher risk of death. In mice, deleting the Angptl8 gene lengthened life and lowered markers of senescence, the state in which cells stop dividing and release inflammatory signals.
The team traced the mechanism in fat tissue. ANGPTL8 binds AKT2, a kinase in the insulin pathway, and drives the AKT-mTOR-S6K chain that pushes fat cells into senescence; blocking that chain removed the effect. The human data are associations, while cause and mechanism come from mice and cells, so ANGPTL8 is a candidate driver of fat-tissue aging rather than a proven one in people.
Yi He's other papers come from the same Tongji endocrinology group and follow ANGPTL8 into other organs: it steers bone marrow stem cells towards fat instead of bone during skeletal aging (2025), it drives inflammation and scarring in kidney tubule cells in diabetic kidney disease through AKT2 (2025), and blocking it protected against diabetes-related memory problems in mice (2024).
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | An ANGPTL8-AKT2-mTOR Axis Drives Adipose Senescence and Aging-Related Functional Decline HE2026 First author: linked circulating ANGPTL8 to biological age in people and showed in mice that it drives fat-cell senescence through AKT2 and mTOR-S6K. |
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