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Sci Tech
Reversing ageing process in skin
JAMES RANDERSON
Scientists have found a way to reverse the ageing process in skin, restoring thinning tissue to a thicker, more youthful state in two weeks. The advance, which works by manipulating a master control gene in cells that changes the level of activity of other genes, has so far been demonstrated only in mice.
Researchers say that if it can be translated to people it might help older people recover more quickly from injury or boost organ function during illness.
Fountain of youth
But they played down suggestions that the technique could be used as a ‘fountain of youth,’ as the targeted gene also plays a role in the immune system and cancer.
They fear that manipulating it could have longer-term and potentially disastrous side effects. “You might get a longer life span, but at the expense of something else,” said Howard Chang, assistant professor of dermatology at Stanford University in California, who led the study.
The discovery adds weight to the notion that the ageing process is more than simply the accumulation of life’s knocks. Previous studies have shown ageing is a genetically programmed process that can be slowed in mammals by a calorie-restricted diet or exercise.
Surgically connected
In more invasive studies young mice had their circulatory systems surgically connected to older animals. The result was that the ageing organs of the older animals were rejuvenated.
“Ageing is not just a result of wear and tear, but is also the consequence of a continually active genetic program that might be blocked for improving human health,” said Chang.
“The finding that aged skin can be ‘rejuvenated’ by a genetic intervention late in life implies that the ageing program is plastic, and therefore can be potentially manipulated to decrease the deleterious effects of ageing.”
His team identified genes involved in the ageing process by looking for those which were expressed at different levels in young and old animals.
They also did the same exercise for human genes, to try to ensure that the finding would be relevant to people.
This exercise threw up 14 candidates, of which the strongest was a master control gene called NF-kappa-B. It controls other target genes involved in the immune system, inflammation and cell death.
The team blocked the action of NF-kappa-B in skin cells in two-year-old mice. After two weeks they examined the genes active in the animals’ skin and found that the genetic profile was very similar to the skin of newborn mice: it was thicker, and more cells appeared to be dividing.
Human longevity
The team cannot be sure that NF-kappa-B has the same effect in humans. But the human version lies in a part of our genome that has been shown in previous studies to be associated with human longevity.
The results are published in the journal Genes and Development. A similar short-term intervention to switch off NF-kappa-B might be possible to speed up recovery from injury, but the team warns that altering it for longer periods might have unexpected consequences.
However, the researchers’ caveats about the unforeseen consequences of manipulating genes that play a role in many cells are most important and add a strong element of caution.”
— Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007
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