Let's reveal the secrets of centenarians
Scientists want to understand why centenarians die almost healthy
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
So far, scientists can only guess why some people live for a very long time and die practically healthy. A new experiment to study the stem cells of these unique people will help explain many features of the aging process.
There are not so many people in the world today who have crossed the threshold of 110 years, keeping the body healthy. These rare people do not develop such common diseases as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, heart and vascular pathologies during their lifetime. In a new study, American scientists managed to reprogram the cells of a 114-year-old woman into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and compare them with analogues of people of a different age.
Scientists sought to find out whether it was possible to reprogram human cells of such an advanced age and what would come of it. The experiment, about which the press release of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute First supercentenarian-derived stem cells created, was a success and the cells were reprogrammed into mesenchymal stem cells, which give rise to the structural tissues of the body.
Article Lee et al. Induced pluripotency and spontaneous reversal of cellular aging in supercentenarian donor cells published in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications – VM.
During the study, the scientists also reprogrammed the cells of two more volunteers – a 43-year-old healthy person and an 8–year-old child who suffered from progeria, a rare genetic disease that leads to early aging.
The process of reprogramming the cells of the centenarian was as easy as the transformation of cells from other participants.
Then the scientists turned their attention to telomeres, which easily returned to their original state. It is known that these "tips" of chromosomes are associated with aging and the longer the telomeres, the greater the potential for life a cell has. Telomere transformation in a long-lived woman was easy, but it happened less often compared to other samples, the scientists said.
This means that in order to "reset" cellular aging, it is necessary to overcome some obstacles that can accumulate with age.
Now scientists are embarking on the most interesting stage of research – a comprehensive comparison of the recreated cells of three participants to determine their unique features. For example, genes or specific molecular processes that would be characteristic of a long-lived person, an ordinary healthy person and a patient with a rare genetic disease.
"Our research will finally help to answer why this rare group of centenarians ages so slowly and what lies behind it," the authors concluded.
As a result, it will help to fight aging in two directions: to work on the creation of drugs that will either suppress the destruction process, or mimic the "beneficial patterns" characteristic of long-lived cells.
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