BEIJING – Scientists in Beijing have developed a new gene therapy that can reverse some of the effects of aging in mice and extend their life expectancy, discoveries that may one day contribute to a similar treatment for humans.
The method, detailed in an article in the journal Science Translational Medicine earlier this month, involves inactivating a gene called kat7, which scientists have found to be a major contributor to cell aging.
The specific therapy they used and the results were unprecedented in the world, said project co-supervisor Professor Qu Jing, 40, an expert in aging and regenerative medicine at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
“These mice show an improved overall appearance and grip strength after 6-8 months and, most importantly, they have increased their lifespan by about 25%,” said Qu.
The team of biologists from different CAS departments used the CRISPR / Cas9 method to track thousands of genes for those who were particularly strong drivers of cell senescence, the term used to describe cell aging.
They identified 100 genes out of about 10,000, and kat7 was the most efficient at contributing to cell senescence, Qu said.
Kat7 is one of tens of thousands of genes found in mammalian cells. The researchers inactivated it in the mice’s liver using a method called a lentiviral vector.
“We just tested the function of the gene in different types of cells, in the human stem cell, in the mesenchymal progenitor cells, in the human liver cell and in the mouse liver cell, and for all these cells we didn’t see any detectable cell toxicity. And for rats, we haven’t seen any side effects yet. “
Despite this, the method is far from ready for human testing, Qu said.
“It is definitely still necessary to test the function of kat7 in other types of cells in humans and other organs in mice and in other preclinical animals before we use the strategy for human aging or other health conditions,” she said.
Qu said he hopes to be able to test the method on primates next, but that would require a lot of funding and a lot more research first.
“In the end, we hope to be able to find a way to slow aging, even by a very small percentage … in the future.”