🚨 Scientists just made 50-year-old skin cells behave like they’re 20 again.

Scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge have found a way to make old human skin cells behave as though they are about 30 years younger, without turning them into stem cells. Using a modified version of a Nobel Prize–winning stem cell technique, they briefly exposed adult skin cells (fibroblasts) to a set of reprogramming molecules known as Yamanaka factors, but stopped the process early. After 13 days, the cells had shed many molecular signs of aging yet were still able to regain their identity as skin cells. Tests showed that these “rejuvenated” cells more closely matched the biological profile of much younger cells when scientists looked at chemical tags on DNA (the epigenetic clock) and patterns of gene activity (the transcriptome).

Crucially, the younger-looking cells also acted younger. The rejuvenated fibroblasts produced more collagen, a key protein that helps skin stay firm and heal after injury, and they moved more quickly to close an artificial “wound” in a lab dish than untreated older cells. The researchers also saw age-related changes reversing in genes linked to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and cataracts, hinting at wider medical potential. Although this work is still at an early stage and the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, it suggests that in the future scientists may be able to selectively refresh aging cells to improve tissue repair and possibly delay some effects of age-related disease, without completely resetting cells to a stem cell state.

References:

Babraham Institute. (2022, April 8). Old skins cells reprogrammed to regain youthful function. ScienceDaily.

Gill, D., Parry, A., Santos, F., Okkenhaug, H., Todd, C. D., Hernando-Herraez, I., Stubbs, T. M., Milagre, I., & Reik, W. (2022). Multi-omic rejuvenation of human cells by maturation phase transient reprogramming. eLife, 11.
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