New USC Viterbi research tells us more than we’ve ever known about how and why our cells age, paving the way for a healthier, happier old age.
For centuries, humans have been obsessed with halting the negative effects of aging; searching for a so-called fountain of youth. While humans are unlikely to achieve immortality any time soon, new research could be key to our understanding of how the aging process works. This paves the way for better cancer treatments and revolutionary new drugs that could vastly improve human health in the twilight years.The work, from USC Viterbi Assistant Professor in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, Nick Graham and his team in collaboration with Scott Fraser, Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, and Pin Wang, Zohrab A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering, was recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
“To drink from the fountain of youth, you have to figure out where the fountain of youth is, and understand what the fountain of youth is doing,” Graham said. “We’re doing the opposite; we’re trying to study the reasons cells age, so that we might be able to design treatments for better aging.”
How do Cells Age?
To achieve this, lead author Alireza Delfarah, a graduate student in the Graham lab, focused on expanding our knowledge of senescence, a natural process in which cells permanently stop creating new cells. This process is one of the key causes of age-related decline, manifesting in diseases such as arthritis, osteoporosis and heart disease.
“Senescent cells are effectively the opposite of stem cells, which have an unlimited potential for self-renewal or division,” Delfarah said. “Senescent cells can never divide again. It’s an irreversible state of cell cycle arrest.”
The research team discovered that the aging, senescent cells they studied stopped producing a class of chemicals called nucleotides, which are the building blocks of DNA. When they took young cells and forced them to stop producing nucleotides, they became senescent, or aged.
“This means that the production of nucleotides is essential to keep cells young,” Delfarah said. “It also means that if we could prevent cells from losing nucleotide synthesis, the cells might age more slowly.”
Graham’s team examined young cells that were proliferating robustly and fed them molecules labeled with stable isotopes of carbon, in order to trace how the nutrients consumed by a cell are processed into different biochemical pathways.
Scott Fraser and his lab worked with the research team to develop 3D imagery of the results. The images unexpectedly revealed that senescent cells often have two nuclei, and that they do not synthesize DNA.
Before now, senescence has primarily been studied in cells known as fibroblasts, the most common cells that comprised the connective tissue in animals. Graham’s team is instead focusing on how senescence occurs in epithelial cells, the cells that line the surfaces of the organs and structures in your body. These are also the types of cells in which most cancers arise.
Graham said that senescence is most widely known as the body’s protective barrier against cancer: When cells sustain damage that could be at risk of developing into cancer, they enter into senescence and stop proliferating so that the cancer does not develop and spread.
“Sometimes people talk about senescence as a double-edged sword, that it protects against cancer, and that’s a good thing,” Graham said. “But then it also promotes aging and diseases like diabetes, cardiac dysfunction or atherosclerosis and general tissue dysfunction,” he said.
Graham said the goal was not to completely prevent senescence, because that might unleash cancer cells. “But then on the other hand, we would like to find a way to remove senescent cells to promote healthy aging and better function,” he said.
Drugs to Help Humans Grow Older More Comfortably
“They can take a mouse that’s aging and diminishing in function and give it these senolytic drugs to eliminate the senescent cells and the mouse is rejuvenated. So if anything it’s these senolytic drugs that are the fountain of youth,” Graham said.
He added that in order for successful senolytic drugs to be designed, it was important to identify what is unique about a senescent cell, so the drug won’t affect the normal, non-senescent cells.
“That’s where we’re coming in—studying senescent cell metabolism and trying to figure out how the senescent cells are unique, so that you could design targeted therapeutics around these metabolic pathways,” Graham said.
Learn more: Fighting Back Against the Ravages of Time
The Latest on: Fountain of youth
[google_news title=”” keyword=”fountain of youth” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Fountain of youth
- Star scientist’s claim of ‘reverse aging’ draws hail of criticismon April 28, 2024 at 3:30 am
Some longevity researchers caution that rejuvenating some cells isn’t the same thing as reversing aging in people. “Reversal of aging is a term I stay away from. The evidence in humans isn’t there," ...
- 2024 Kentucky Derby odds, horses, field: Top picks from expert with long history of Derby successon April 27, 2024 at 4:17 am
Horse racing glory will be on the line when the country's best 3-year-olds leave the starting gate in the first leg of racing's Triple Crown, ...
- This one type of workout will delay your ageing processon April 26, 2024 at 1:30 am
First things first, despite the headline that enticed you to uncover the fountain of youth, it's important to clarify that there is no single workout or exercise that can reverse ageing completely.
- The MLS fountain of youth is dipped in goals in the early part of 2024on April 25, 2024 at 11:14 am
The movement recently has been for teams to sign younger talent that they believe could turn into stars, foregoing for the most part the aging stars from European teams looking for one last payday ...
- Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological Parkon April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Casey Feindt Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park is the site of St. Augustine's original settlement. Here, you'll learn about the Spanish settlers who arrived in the 1500s ...
- Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare star's hilarious gun training admissionon April 22, 2024 at 4:28 am
Eiza González's first collaboration with Ritchie came in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. While it's their first, it won't be their last. Coming up, González will also star in his upcoming films ...
- 'Survival: Fountain of Youth' Gets Update, Leaving Early Access, PC Release Date Set for May, Consoles to Follow - Traileron April 15, 2024 at 4:32 pm
The 1.0 update will add the fifth and final region of Bimini Island, a new ship, and the final boss battle. Alongside today's announcement, new quality of life updates have been implemented including ...
- Survival: Fountain of Youth - Official 1.0 Release Announcement Traileron April 15, 2024 at 9:35 am
Survival: Fountain of Youth leaves Early Access and version 1.0 will be available on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on May 21, 2024, and coming to PS5 (PlayStation 5) and Xbox Series X/S later ...
- Exclusive: Is this Miami house a fountain of youth? See prize-winning, health-first homeon April 10, 2024 at 11:25 am
Co-founder’s Nathalie Manzano and Ted Caplow stand in the kitchen area of their newly constructed house in the Miami neighborhood of Silver Bluff on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The house landed one of ...
via Bing News