Reversing the aging process could lead to medical treatments for many chronic conditions
Researchers have shown they can reverse the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate. The findings could lead to medical treatments that may repair a host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age. A research group led by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted the study in cell culture, which appears in the September 1, 2011 edition of the journal Cell Cycle.
The regenerative power of tissues and organs declines as we age. The modern day stem cell hypothesis of aging suggests that living organisms are as old as are its tissue specific or adult stem cells. Therefore, an understanding of the molecules and processes that enable human adult stem cells to initiate self-renewal and to divide, proliferate and then differentiate in order to rejuvenate damaged tissue might be the key to regenerative medicine and an eventual cure for many age-related diseases A research group led by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, conducted the study that pinpoints what is going wrong with the biological clock underlying the limited division of human adult stem cells as they age.
We demonstrated that we were able to reverse the process of aging for human adult stem cells by intervening with the activity of non-protein coding RNAs originated from genomic regions once dismissed as non-functional genomic junk, said Victoria Lunyak, Ph.D., associate professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
Adult stem cells are important because they help keep human tissues healthy by replacing cells that have gotten old or damaged. Theyre also multipotent, which means that an adult stem cell can grow and replace any number of body cells in the tissue or organ they belong to. However, just as the cells in the liver, or any other organ, can get damaged over time, adult stem cells undergo age-related damage. And when this happens, the body cant replace damaged tissue as well as it once could, leading to a host of diseases and conditions. But if scientists can find a way to keep these adult stem cells young, they could possibly use these cells to repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack; heal wounds; correct metabolic syndromes; produce insulin for patients with type 1 diabetes; cure arthritis and osteoporosis and regenerate bone.
The team began by hypothesizing that DNA damage in the genome of adult stem cells would look very different from age-related damage occurring in regular body cells. They thought so because body cells are known to experience a shortening of the caps found at the ends of chromosomes, known as telomeres. But adult stem cells are known to maintain their telomeres. Much of the damage in aging is widely thought to be a result of losing telomeres. So there must be different mechanisms at play that are key to explaining how aging occurs in these adult stem cells, they thought.
Researchers used adult stem cells from humans and combined experimental techniques with computational approaches to study the changes in the genome associated with aging. They compared freshly isolated human adult stem cells from young individuals, which can self-renew, to cells from the same individuals that were subjected to prolonged passaging in culture. This accelerated model of adult stem cell aging exhausts the regenerative capacity of the adult stem cells. Researchers looked at the changes in genomic sites that accumulate DNA damage in both groups.
We found the majority of DNA damage and associated chromatin changes that occurred with adult stem cell aging were due to parts of the genome known as retrotransposons, said King Jordan, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech.
Retroransposons were previously thought to be non-functional and were even labeled as junk DNA, but accumulating evidence indicates these elements play an important role in genome regulation, he added.
While the young adult stem cells were able to suppress transcriptional activity of these genomic elements and deal with the damage to the DNA, older adult stem cells were not able to scavenge this transcription. New discovery suggests that this event is deleterious for the regenerative ability of stem cells and triggers a process known as cellular senescence.
By suppressing the accumulation of toxic transcripts from retrotransposons, we were able to reverse the process of human adult stem cell aging in culture, said Lunyak.
Furthermore, by rewinding the cellular clock in this way, we were not only able to rejuvenate aged human stem cells, but to our surprise we were able to reset them to an earlier developmental stage, by up-regulating the pluripotency factors the proteins that are critically involved in the self-renewal of undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. she said.
Next the team plans to use further analysis to validate the extent to which the rejuvenated stem cells may be suitable for clinical tissue regenerative applications.
The study was conducted by a team with members from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California, San Diego, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, International Computer Science Institute, Applied Biosystems and Tel-Aviv University.
Citation: Inhibition of activated pericentromeric SINE/Alu repeat transcription in senescent human adult stem cells reinstates self-renewal. Cell Cycle, Volume 10, Issue 17, September 1, 2011
About the Buck Institute for Research on Aging The Buck Institute is the first freestanding institute in the United States that is devoted solely to basic research on aging and age-associated disease. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to extending the healthspan, the healthy years of each individuals life. Buck Institute scientists work in an innovative, interdisciplinary setting to understand the mechanisms of aging and to discover new ways of detecting, preventing and treating conditions such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Collaborative research at the Institute is supported by new developments in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics technology. For more information: http://www.thebuck.org.
About the Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the world's premier research universities. Ranked seventh amongU.S. News & World Report's top public universities, Georgia Tech has more than 20,000 students enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences and is among the nation's top producers of women and minority engineers.The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute. For more information: http://www.gatech.edu.
Excerpt from:
Scientists Turn Back the Clock on Adult Stem Cells Aging ...
- Stem cells reveal how illness-linked genetic variation affects neurons [Last Updated On: August 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 22nd, 2014]
- Stem Cells Atlanta GA, Stem Cell Therapy, Dental Stem Cells [Last Updated On: August 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 22nd, 2014]
- Stem Cells COPD | Stem Cell Treatments [Last Updated On: August 23rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 23rd, 2014]
- Stem Cells in GA - Georgia Bio [Last Updated On: August 25th, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 25th, 2014]
- Georgia (Stem Cell) - what-when-how [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2014]
- Boron Facilitates Stem Cell Growth and Development in Corn [Last Updated On: August 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: August 29th, 2014]
- Protein appears to protect against bone loss in arthritis [Last Updated On: September 13th, 2014] [Originally Added On: September 13th, 2014]
- How stress ups depression risk [Last Updated On: October 21st, 2014] [Originally Added On: October 21st, 2014]
- Biological fat with a sugar attached essential to maintaining the brain's supply of stem cells [Last Updated On: November 3rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: November 3rd, 2014]
- Bone Marrow & Stem Cell Transplant Center | Atlanta, GA ... [Last Updated On: November 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: November 16th, 2014]
- Stem Cell Treatment India,Stem Cell Treatment India,Cost ... [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2015] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2015]
- Graphene Shows Promise In Eradication Of Stem Cancer Cells [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2015] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2015]
- Stem Cell Institute Los Angeles Chronic Pain Treatments [Last Updated On: March 27th, 2015] [Originally Added On: March 27th, 2015]
- Stem Cells Thailand - Stem Cell Therapy Thailand [Last Updated On: March 27th, 2015] [Originally Added On: March 27th, 2015]
- Welcome to Atlanta Stem Cell Treatment [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2015] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2015]
- Stem Cells Hashimoto's Thyroiditis [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2015] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2015]
- Effective Hematopoietic Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapies [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2015] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2015]
- Global Stem Cells Group Announces First Stem Cell Training ... [Last Updated On: June 3rd, 2015] [Originally Added On: June 3rd, 2015]
- Stem Cells - Lonza [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2015] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2015]
- Asymmetrex Plans to Report Results From Adult Stem Cell ... [Last Updated On: August 2nd, 2015] [Originally Added On: August 2nd, 2015]
- Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells & Media [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2015]
- Using Stem Cells in Teeth for Future Use in Developing ... [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2015] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2015]
- Lymphoid Cells, Lymphoid Stem Cells - AllCells.com [Last Updated On: October 11th, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 11th, 2015]
- Storing Stem Cells In Teeth For Your Familys Future Health [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2015] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2015]
- Atlanta Stem Cell Therapy | Georgia Stem Cell Treatments ... [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2016]
- This Wasp's Larvae Sometimes Grow Hundreds of Soldier ClonesBut Why? - Entomology Today [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2017]
- Turning Skin Cells Into Brain Cells - 06/28/2012 [Last Updated On: October 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: October 1st, 2017]
- Placenta | Amniotic tissue is not stem cell therapy - Dr ... [Last Updated On: July 17th, 2018] [Originally Added On: July 17th, 2018]
- Atlanta, Georgia Stem Cell Transplant, Marietta, Berkeley ... [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2018] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2018]
- Stem Cell Savannah Georgia 31401 [Last Updated On: January 20th, 2019] [Originally Added On: January 20th, 2019]
- Current Strategies and Challenges for Purification of ... [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2019]
- Georgia Stem Cells | Stem Cell TV [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2019]
- Georgia solar factory scores on tariffs; others in industry take a hit - Atlanta Journal Constitution [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2019]
- Autologous Stem Cell And Non Stem Cell Based Therapies Market Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast up to 2026 - Guru Online News [Last Updated On: November 20th, 2019] [Originally Added On: November 20th, 2019]
- Transition to exhaustion: clues for cancer immunotherapy - 7thSpace Interactive [Last Updated On: December 5th, 2019] [Originally Added On: December 5th, 2019]
- Global Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based Therapies Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025 - News Distribute [Last Updated On: December 27th, 2019] [Originally Added On: December 27th, 2019]
- Stem Cell Therapy in Atlanta, GA - sipapain.com [Last Updated On: February 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: February 3rd, 2020]
- CytoDyn (OTC: CYDY) Reports Strong Results from eIND COVID-19 Patients Treated with Leronlimab; Majority of Patients Have Demonstrated Remarkable... [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2020]
- CytoDyn Reports Strong Results from eIND COVID-19 Patients Treated with Leronlimab; Majority of Patients Have Demonstrated Remarkable Recoveries -... [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2020]
- Covid-19 has shuttered labs. It could put a generation of researchers at risk - STAT [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2020]
- Novant Health Initiates Phase 2b/3 Trial with CytoDyns Leronlimab for Severely and Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients - Yahoo Finance [Last Updated On: May 11th, 2020] [Originally Added On: May 11th, 2020]
- Study reveals birth defects caused by flame retardant - University of Georgia [Last Updated On: June 2nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 2nd, 2020]
- Athens hospital using biologic treatment on COVID-19 patients - Online Athens [Last Updated On: June 2nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 2nd, 2020]
- Cytovia Therapeutics, Inc appoints Dr. Wei Li as Chief Scientific Officer to accelerate the development of iPSC CAR-NK Cell Therapy for Cancer - Yahoo... [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2020]
- COVID is shifting the conversation about the medical application of CBD - Open Access Government [Last Updated On: September 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 22nd, 2020]
- Robert E. Windsor, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who - PRNewswire [Last Updated On: September 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 22nd, 2020]
- Stemcell Renewal Elixir GEORGIA LOUISE [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2020]
- Exploring science with a new generation of girls - US Embassy in Georgia [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2021]
- A plant that 'cannot die' reveals its genetic secrets - The Independent [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2021] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2021]
- Role of Stem Cells in Treatment of Neurological Disorder [Last Updated On: October 16th, 2021] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2021]
- Precision BioSciences Announces Two Oral Presentations Highlighting Updated Interim Data from Lead PBCAR0191 CAR T Immunotherapy for Relapsed and... [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2021]
- Editas Medicine to Present Data Demonstrating Progress Towards Transformative Gene Editing Medicines for the Treatment of Hemoglobinopathies and... [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2021]
- MorphoSys to Present MANIFEST and RE-MIND2 Data from Expanded Hematology-Oncology Portfolio at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual... [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2021]
- BioLineRx Announces an Oral Presentation and Three Poster Presentations at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting &... [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2021]
- EdiGene to Present Latest Research on A Novel Surface Marker and Migration of Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) That Could Enhance HSC Gene Therapy and... [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2021]
- From asthma to cancer to infertility, the new treatments, jabs and meds making us healthier... - The Sun [Last Updated On: November 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 22nd, 2021]
- Avra, Inc. Completes its Merger with Springs Rejuvenation, LLC, a Stem Cell and Anti-Aging Treatment Company - GlobeNewswire [Last Updated On: December 24th, 2021] [Originally Added On: December 24th, 2021]
- Axion BioSystems Acquires Live-Cell Imaging Innovator CytoSMART Technologies - Business Wire [Last Updated On: March 25th, 2022] [Originally Added On: March 25th, 2022]
- Identifying Missing Links - and Why Certain Drugs Don't Work - in Alzhiemer's - BioSpace [Last Updated On: April 6th, 2022] [Originally Added On: April 6th, 2022]
- SpaceX capsule returns to Earth with first all-private space station crew Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now [Last Updated On: May 2nd, 2022] [Originally Added On: May 2nd, 2022]
- How Protein Nanoparticle Vaccines Have The Potential To Be Developed Into 'Safer' Covid-19 Vaccines: Study - ABP Live [Last Updated On: June 4th, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 4th, 2022]
- CBD And CBG Show Promising Results In Treating Glioblastoma Brain Tumors - The Fresh Toast [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2022]
- The cloudy connection between fragile X and cancer - Spectrum [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2022]
- Global Adult Stem Cells Market | Expected to Reach USD 9.45 Billion and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is - openPR [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2022]
- CIRI calls for safety advice revamp after health concerns raised by 3D printing emission research - 3D Printing Industry [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2022] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2022]