Madrid. A team of researchers led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, professor of Developmental Biology at the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) and professor at the Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute in California, United States, managed to rejuvenate mice without generating tumors or any other health problem, thanks to cell rejuvenation therapy.
“Our results indicate that we can use this method to naturally delay aging in animals. The technique is safe and effective in mice. In addition to allowing us to address the diseases related to this process, this approach provides the biomedical community with a new tool to restore the health of aged tissues and the body itself, improving the functioning of cells in different pathological situations, such as For example, neurodegenerative diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, skin or kidney problems”, stated Izpisua, whose work was published in Nature Aging.
As organisms age, not only does their outward appearance and health change; Every cell in the body has a molecular clock that tracks the passage of time. Cells isolated from elderly individuals present epigenetic marks in the DNA, due to lifestyle and interaction with the environment, different from those existing in young individuals.
Treating aged cells with a mixture of four cell reprogramming factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc), also known as “Yamanaka factors,” can erase these accumulated epigenetic marks over time, so that adult cells can become developmentally into stem cells.
“In 2016, when this project was started by Izpisua Belmonte, we published, for the first time, that using Yamanaka factors it was possible to reverse aging and increase the useful life of mice suffering from progeria (a disease that causes premature aging). Later, in 2021, in a study carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Olympic Committee, it was reported that, even in young mice, these factors can accelerate muscle regeneration, and based on these publications, other scientific teams have improved the function of tissues such as heart, brain and optic nerve”, said Estrella Núñez, co-author of the research and vice-rector for Research at UCAM.
“We want to restore full functionality and recovery capacity to cells that have aged or have lost their function so that they are more resistant to stress, injury and disease. Our results show that, at least in mice, there is a way to achieve this”, assured Izpisua Belmonte.
#Prove #effectiveness #cell #rejuvenation #therapy #generating #tumors #problems