作者
Daniel J Simpson
发表日期
2021
机构
University of Edinburgh
简介
Ageing is a complex, multi-faceted process that afflicts all humans. It invariably increases susceptibility to a range of diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders. Drugs that mimic calorie restriction show promise in slowing down ageing, but very few treatments appear to be able to actively reverse ageing. Partially reprogrammed stem cells have shown potential as an anti-ageing therapy when used to safely rejuvenate mice without tumour incidence. The question remained as to what exactly occurred at a cellular level. Were a subpopulation of cells dedifferentiating, or partially dedifferentiating and causing a rejuvenative effect by being more stem-like? Or, were the cells epigenetically rejuvenated, where cells became more youthful without loss of somatic cell identity? To test either of these hypotheses, two biomarkers were required to track (i) biological ageing and (ii) dedifferentiation state. By analysing a …