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In order to keep the skin young and fight aging, humans have come up with many means.
Now scientists have found a new way to make 53-year-old skin cells 30 years younger and directly return to youth.
And this time it wasn't limited to mouse studies, human cells were actually used in experiments.
The relevant papers have been accepted by eLife journals, although the full text has not yet been officially published, and has been valued by relevant scholars.
Precise cell reprogramming
The method used in this study is called cell reprogramming.
A major breakthrough in this field was the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Artificially Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs).
In simple terms, the combination of 4 transcription factors into ordinary cells through viral vectors can re-induce them into stem cells.
Theoretically, these induced stem cells, like embryonic stem cells, have the ability to re-differentiate into various types of cells.
However, the technology at that time was not mature enough, and all the differentiation characteristics of cells could only be eliminated in one go, and the stable re-differentiation method was not mastered, and the induction process was relatively slow, and it was difficult to truly apply to medical treatment.
△ Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka
This time, scientists from britain's Babraham Institute have found the precise balance in reprogramming, allowing cells to return to their original function when they are young.
The subject of the study is the fibroblasts in human skin, which are responsible for secreting collagen and also play an important role in wound healing.
Specifically, senescent fibroblasts are first transferred to the 4 transcription factors found by Shinya Yamanaka, and after about 10-17 days into the mature stage, these factors are removed to restore the normal state of the cells.
In the intermediate stage, the morphology and gene expression level of fibroblasts change, and after removal, they return to the fibroblast state again.
After one operation, using two methods of epigenetic clock and genetic transcript reading, the reprogrammed cells roughly matched the characteristics of cells that were 30 years younger.
In in vitro wound healing experiments, reprogrammed cells were also observed to rejuvenate, secrete more collagen, and migrate to the wound at an accelerated rate.
In a follow-up comparative trial, the researchers found that allowing transcription factor expression for 13 days was the optimal equilibrium point.
This new approach is named MPTR (Maturation Phase Transient Regramming).
Apply foregrounds not only skins
Diljeet Gill, a postdoc in the first paper, said the significance of the study is not limited to the skin.
They observed in the study that the method could also have an impact on other diseases caused by cellular aging, such as changing transcription of the ALZHEIMER-related APBA2 gene and the cataract-related MAF gene toward younger.
The next step of the research team is to continue to verify whether the new method can replicate on other types of cells.
Do you guess how old Dr. Gill is now?
Address of thesis:
https://elifesciences.org/articles/71624
Reference Links:
https://www.babraham.ac.uk/news/2022/04/new-technique-rewinds-age-skin-cells-30-years