Exposure to certain molecules can reverse the aging of skin cells while preserving their function.
Researchers have developed a method that changes the biological clock of skin cells turn back thirty years† They did this by turning adult cells into stem cells. These are cells that are in an early phase, where they usually still have to choose which cell type they will develop into. In the future, this technique may help to treat skin conditions.
Back to square one
Nobel laureate developed in 2007 Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto University in Japan, a technique that can transform mature skin cells into stem cells. Introducing four specialized molecules into the skin, called yamanaka factors, can reverse cell development† It takes about fifty days after exposure to the factors to reprogram normal cells into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC’s).
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‘When you made an iPSC from a cell before, you lost the original cell type and its function,’ says biomedical scientist Diljeet Gill from the Babraham Institute in the United Kingdom. Gill and his colleagues have now developed a technique that uses the yamanaka factors to rejuvenate skin cells without sacrificing their original function as a skin cell. losses.
The researchers collected skin cell samples from three people, on average around 50 years old. Next, the scientists exposed these samples to the yamanaka factors for just 13 days to slightly rejuvenate the cells. They then removed the yamanaka factors and allowed the cells to continue growing.
Disabled clock
When we get older, certain substances attach themselves to our DNA. These markers reveal how old our bodies are. This system is known as our epigenetic clock. Over time, some of our genes are marked by these molecular markers on or off† The collection of these switched-on genes is called the transcriptome.
Gill and his team found that the epigenetic clock and transcriptome profiles of the partially reprogrammed cells matched the profiles of skin cells from people 30 years younger. The rejuvenated cells actually functioned as younger cells. They made more collagen than the cells that had not been reprogrammed.
In addition, when the reprogrammed cells were placed on an artificial wound, they closed the wound much faster than older cells did. ‘When young people cut themselves, it takes them less time to heal than it does for me,’ says epigeneticist Wolf Reik, also works at the Babraham Institute. “This result is exciting. The cell is not only younger from a molecular point of view, but the cell also functions more like a young cell.’
Young but functional
The biggest step forward is that we can now essentially rejuvenate cells without changing their function, Reik says. ‘In previous studies you ended up with a stem cell, which is of no use in the treatment of diseases.’
In the future, this technique may be useful in the treatment of skin conditions, such as burns and swear. An added benefit is that the cells aren’t rejected by the patient’s body, because they’re their own cells, Gill says.
‘Until now, we have only tested this technique with skin cells. We are curious if we can also use it in other cell types,’ says Gill.
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