A decade after Kyoto University biologist Shinya Yamanaka won a share of a Nobel Prize for discovering a cocktail of proteins that reprogram adult cells into versatile stem cells, two teams argue the proteins can turn back the clock for entire organisms—perhaps one day humans. One group at a biotech used gene therapy to deliver some of the so-called Yamanaka factors into old mice, and modestly extended their life span. And a separate team followed a similar strategy to reverse aging-like changes in genetically engineered mice.
In both cases, the Yamanaka factors appear to have restored part of the animals’ epigenome, chemical modifications on DNA and proteins that help regulate gene activity, to a more youthful state. But scientists not involved in the work say suggestions of age reversal are premature. “These studies use reprogramming factors to reverse epigenetic changes that happen during aging,” says Matt Kaeberlein, a geroscientist at the University of Washington, Seattle, but that’s a far cry from making an old animal young again.
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