Turning back the Clock on Aging Stem Cells

In a recent study, a Stanford research team successfully delivered epigenetic reprogramming , or Yamanaka, factors to human tissue cells. Driving back their epigenetic status into a more youthful state.

Importantly, the team found that if dosed for a short enough time, the cells retained their identity but returned to a younger state, as judged by several measures of cell vigor, including:

• More youthful & healthier expression
• Increase in differential potential
• Improved tissue regenerative capabilities
• Restoration of muscle function

Dr. Sebastiano, one of the lead investigators, said the Yamanaka factors appeared to operate in two stages:

1. Raising the epigenetic energy to one level, at which the marks of aging were lost
   
2. To a higher level at which cell identity was erased

The Stanford team extracted aged cartilage cells from patients with osteoarthritis and found that after a low dosage of Yamanaka factors the cells no longer secreted the inflammatory factors that provoke the disease. The team also found that human muscle stem cells, which are impaired in a muscle-wasting disease, could be restored to youth.

Members of the Stanford team have formed a company, Turn Biotechnologies, to develop therapies for osteoarthritis and other diseases. The study is

definitively a step forward in the goal of reversing cellular aging

Dr. Izpisua Belmonte

The results are novel and represent a significant step toward the goal of reversing cellular aging, and have potential therapeutic implications for aging and aging-related diseases.