Could it be? Ageing reversed?

[BigTex]

In a recent study published in Cell on Jan. 12, Harvard scientists showed that they could manipulate and reverse the aging process in mice by generating DNA repairs.

The results of a 13-year, international study show for the first time that breakdown in epigenetic information accelerates aging in mice and that repairing the epigenome can reverse those signs of aging.

“For about the past 50 years, popular theory has held that the process of aging is caused in large part by an accumulation of mutation. There’s growing evidence, however, that aging has a significant epigenetic component. That is, the process by which stretches of DNA or the genes are turned on and off,” said the paper’s senior author, David Sinclair, professor of genetics at the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research.

“My colleagues and I believe that not only are epigenetic changes are the primary cause of aging, but that these changes are driven by the ongoing process of DNA breakage and repair,” he continued.

“We believe ours is the first study to show epigenetic change as a primary driver of aging in mammals,” Sinclair said.

“First, the results need to be replicated in larger mammals and in humans. Studies in nonhuman primates are currently underway,” Harvard said in a statement.

“We hope these results are seen as a turning point in our ability to control aging,” said Sinclair. “This is the first study showing that we can have precise control of the biological age of a complex animal; that we can drive it forwards and backwards at will.”

Loss of epigenetic information as a cause of mammalian aging

Aging is characterized by changes in cellular identity and function over time. This process is driven by changes in chromatin factor localization during DNA break repair, which alters the epigenome and advances the epigenetic clock. Expression of a subset of Yamanka factors, OSK, can reverse...

www.cell.com

Here is an earlier study: Gene Therapy Mediated Partial Reprogramming Extends Lifespan and Reverses Age-Related Changes in Aged Mice

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...

www.biorxiv.org

 

[BadassBlues]

In a recent study published in Cell on Jan. 12, Harvard scientists showed that they could manipulate and reverse the aging process in mice by generating DNA repairs.

The results of a 13-year, international study show for the first time that breakdown in epigenetic information accelerates aging in mice and that repairing the epigenome can reverse those signs of aging.

“For about the past 50 years, popular theory has held that the process of aging is caused in large part by an accumulation of mutation. There’s growing evidence, however, that aging has a significant epigenetic component. That is, the process by which stretches of DNA or the genes are turned on and off,” said the paper’s senior author, David Sinclair, professor of genetics at the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research.

“My colleagues and I believe that not only are epigenetic changes are the primary cause of aging, but that these changes are driven by the ongoing process of DNA breakage and repair,” he continued.

“We believe ours is the first study to show epigenetic change as a primary driver of aging in mammals,” Sinclair said.

“First, the results need to be replicated in larger mammals and in humans. Studies in nonhuman primates are currently underway,” Harvard said in a statement.

“We hope these results are seen as a turning point in our ability to control aging,” said Sinclair. “This is the first study showing that we can have precise control of the biological age of a complex animal; that we can drive it forwards and backwards at will.”

Loss of epigenetic information as a cause of mammalian aging

Aging is characterized by changes in cellular identity and function over time. This process is driven by changes in chromatin factor localization during DNA break repair, which alters the epigenome and advances the epigenetic clock. Expression of a subset of Yamanka factors, OSK, can reverse...

www.cell.com

Here is an earlier study: Gene Therapy Mediated Partial Reprogramming Extends Lifespan and Reverses Age-Related Changes in Aged Mice

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...

www.biorxiv.org

The fact that David Sinclair is involved lends a lot of credibility to the study. Of course, my fear is that they will have discovered the cure for aging at the moment I am on my death bed...

 

[sammmy]

The problem is that this cell reprogramming backwards towards stem cells may induce cancer. They say it in the second paper:

Teratoma formation has been observed in partially reprogrammed animals, particularly when c-Myc is used in the partial rejuvenation cocktail (Abad et al., 2013; Ocampo et al., 2016; Ohnishi et al., 2014; Senís et al., 2018). Although poorly invasive and poorly metastatic, teratoma formation is unlikely to be accepted by the FDA, hence tight control of the partial rejuvenation factors will be a key attribute for safe and efficacious rejuvenation therapies. We did not observe any gross teratoma formation in our cyclically induced OSK paradigm. These observations, along with recent advances in vector development and optimization, tissue specific promoters, and inducible systems (Domenger and Grimm, 2019; Li and Samulski, 2020), engender cautious optimism that a partial rejuvenation therapy can be safely delivered in humans. Prudent and thorough monitoring studies in large animals will be required to assess the safety and efficacy of partial rejuvenation studies.

 

[Systemlord]

The problem is that this cell reprogramming backwards towards stem cells may induce cancer.

If they ever choose to go along with human trials, they will likely choose somebody already terminally ill.

 

[sammmy]

Of course, that is why the mice in the study were very old (124 weeks) and the median lifespan increased very little from 133 (placebo) to 142.5 (treatment) weeks i.e. only 7% increase.

A more significant increase requires starting treatment earlier in life but then the probability for cancer will increase with the longer treatment.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

Of course, that is why the mice in the study were very old (124 weeks) and the median lifespan increased very little from 133 (placebo) to 142.5 (treatment) weeks i.e. only 7% increase.

A more significant increase requires starting treatment earlier in life but then the probability for cancer will increase with the longer treatment.

If the treatment is not just turning back markers of aging, but drivers of aging itself such as over-expression of inflammation, reduced immune function, and excess insulin, then the therapy should be anti-cancer since all of those are primary drivers of cancer (and dementia, heart disease, etc.)

 

[BigTex]

I agree Guided_by_Voices. This is VERY preliminary, but I see a lot of promises in this if it in fact works out in humans. Of course how will big pharma react to this? Lots of money being made from these diseases.

 

[sammmy]

If it works, it will be part of a very expensive Big Pharma available only to the super rich elite. It is not for the masses, especially now when the Earth is overpopulated.

However they will first have to demonstrate it works without cancer for middle aged mice, then primates, then old super rich humans etc.