Advocating for Epigenetic Reprogramming as a Potential Rejuvenation Therapy

Partial epigenetic reprogramming emerges from the intersection of understanding how cells behave in cancerous tissue and during embryonic development. In the developing embryo there is a point at which adult germline cells convert themselves into embryonic stem cells, discarding forms of damage and dysfunction characteristic of adult cells and restoring a youthful pattern of the epigenetic markers attached to the genome that control its shape in the cell nucleus and thus gene expression. Some of the genes involved are known to also operate in cancers, in which replication and reprogramming runs wild, but which use many of the same mechanisms as the embyro. Given exploratory work to date, it seems possible to pick apart the regulatory systems controlling (a) change of cell type via dedifferentiation, and (b) restoration of youthful epigenetic markers. That second item is highly desirable. If researchers could reset the epigenetics of aged cells, they would become more youthful. Given enough cells reset in this way, tissues and organs would become more youthful in function. Some forms of age-related molecular damage can't be repaired in this way, such as persistent metabolic waste or nuclear DNA damage, but evidence from studies of epigenetic reprogramming in aged mice suggest that there are sizable gains that can be achieved via this approach, provided that cancerous transformation of cells can be kept at bay. One might argue that given the existence of Altos Lab...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs