Recent Episodes
Verge of the Fountain of Youth
Is it possible to delay aging? Sure, through diet, exercise, clean air - all to reduce the damage to our cells, and our DNA.
But what about reversing aging? Two studies show cell reprogramming reversed aging in mice.
About a decade ago, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, a stem cell biologist, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for a method that reprograms adult cells into stem cells that can be prodded into forming any cell in the body. In other words, return cells to their most youthful state.
It relied on a mixture of 4 genes or proteins called Yamanaka factors. In the new studies, these factors restored a cell's epigenome, marks found on DNA, which essentially reversed aging.
Changes to our epigenome ages us. They're like traffic lights inside our cells that regulate gene activity. In a mouse model, Yamanaka factors called OSK were introduced into cells of old mice.
Researchers saw that the epigenome began to resemble that in younger mice. Their lifespan was also moderately extended. Another study showed that when mouse DNA was damaged, it changed the epigenome and the mice began to show aging - hair loss, frailty, and tissue damage.
But when OSK factors were introduced into these mice, many of the aging changes in their vision, muscle tissue, and kidneys were reversed.
What this shows is that scientists can move an animal's age forward or backward by manipulating the epigenome. It's remarkable but researchers may be onto a biological time machine.
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More Information
Two research teams reverse signs of aging in mice
A decade after Kyoto University biologist Shinya Yamanaka won a share of a Nobel Prize for discovering a cocktail of proteins that reprogram adult cells into versatile stem cells, two teams argue the proteins can turn back the clock for entire organisms-perhaps one day humans. One group at a biotech used gene therapy to deliver some of the so-called Yamanaka factors into old mice, and modestly extended their life span. And a separate team followed a similar strategy to reverse aging-like changes in genetically engineered mice...
How and Why Do We Age?
What happens in our body when we age? What are the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate ageing and can we delay ageing by targeting these processes? These are some of the questions we want to answer at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing. We are all aware of the external features that appear at old age, such as wrinkles and grey hair but why do we age and what exactly happens inside our body when we age is much less understood...
Gene Therapy Mediated Partial Reprogramming Extends Lifespan and Reverses Age-Related Changes in Aged Mice
Aging is a complex process best characterized as the chronic dysregulation of cellular processes leading to deteriorated tissue and organ function. While aging cannot currently be prevented, its impact on lifespan and healthspan in the elderly can potentially be minimized by interventions that aim to return these cellular processes to optimal function. Recent studies have demonstrated that partial reprogramming using the Yamanaka factors (or a subset; OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4; OSK) can reverse age-related changes in vitro and in vivo. However, it is still unknown whether the Yamanaka factors (or a subset) are capable of extending the lifespan of aged wild type mice...
Loss of epigenetic information as a cause of mammalian aging
All living things experience an increase in entropy, manifested as a loss of genetic and epigenetic information. In yeast, epigenetic information is lost over time due to the relocalization of chromatin-modifying proteins to DNA breaks, causing cells to lose their identity, a hallmark of yeast aging. Using a system called "ICE" (inducible changes to the epigenome), we find that the act of faithful DNA repair advances aging at physiological, cognitive, and molecular levels, including erosion of the epigenetic landscape, cellular exdifferentiation, senescence, and advancement of the DNA methylation clock, which can be reversed by OSK-mediated rejuvenation...
