Why you shouldn't get too excited at claims scientists have reversed ageing (yet) 🔎 Analysis by StuartJRitchie
In a sense, this is de-ageing the cell, because cells start their lives as stem cells, then develop according to their epigenetic programme. This works very well in the lab, hence the Nobel. But could it be possible to use Yamanaka factors to de-age cells in mature, living creatures- first lab mice, and then perhaps humans – turning back the clock on their biology?
Here’s the rub: if you de-age cells in this way, they lose their epigenetic programme, and lose their identity . When they begin to grow and divide in future, they could end up turning into the wrong kind of cell: and that can mean they turn into tumours. The cancer risk that comes from using this kind of cellular “reprogramming” is one of theof the new papers – which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed – attempted to avoid this roadblock by only partially reprogramming the cells.
That percentage figure can be misleading without context. All the mice in the experiment were already elderly – indeed, they were very near the end of an average mouse lifespan, which is about 120 weeks. So the 109 per cent extension was to their remaining life, which was just a matter of a few weeks – the 20 mice given the Yamanaka factors lived for an average of ten weeks longer than the 20 mice in the control group.
Biologist Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize in 2012 for discovering genes that can roll back cellular ageing
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