"Inflammaging", the chronic increase in inflammatory signaling with age, remains poorly understood in hematopoietic aging. Here, we identify the innate immune RNA sensor melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) as an important factor of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) aging. Aged Mda5-/- mice exhibit reduced HSC accumulation and myeloid bias. Importantly, aged Mda5-/- HSCs retain greater quiescence and superior repopulation capacity in noncompetitive transplants compared to wild-type counterparts. Multiomic analyses- including chromatin accessibility, transcriptomics, and metabolomics-reveal decreased inflammatory signaling, a youthful metabolic profile, and improved proteostasis in Mda5-/- HSCs, through regulation of HSF1 and phospho-EIF2A, key proteostasis regulators. Activation of HSF1 in aged wild-type HSCs partially restores youthful features, supporting a causal role for proteostasis maintenance. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that attenuating MDA5-dependent inflammation preserves HSC function during aging by maintaining metabolic fitness and proteostasis and provide insight into potential therapeutic strategies for mitigating hematopoietic aging.
© 2026. The Author(s).