Science has achieved great success in creating a cellular "elixir of youth". Two independent studies led a group of geneticists: in the first case, the Nanog gene, which was studied at the University of Buffalo, allows to slow aging, and in the second, the telomerase enzyme attracted the attention of scientists from the Brazilian Research Foundation.
A research team in Buffalo has conducted a series of experiments and has shown that the Nanog gene triggers dormant cellular processes that can prevent weakened bones, vascular problems and the external signs of aging, as well as age-related diseases such as progeria.
When the Nanog gene is inserted into aged stem cells, dormant proteins are released into the cytoskeleton, which is required for adult cells to create muscle cells. The power these cells produce helps restore the regenerative properties that adult cells lose with age.
According to Professor Stelios Andreadis, team leader, Nanog not only has the ability to delay aging, but also reverse it, writes EurekAlert.
Brazilian geneticists investigated telomerase, an enzyme found in the human body and considered the "source of youth." They found that sex hormones can stimulate the production of these hormones.
This approach has been tested in patients with genetic diseases associated with mutations in the telomere genetic code, such as hyperplastic anemia and pulmonary fibrosis. The authors of the work argue that in this way it is possible to eliminate the damage caused to the body by a deficiency of telomeres.
Scientists treated patients with the sterodide danazol, a synthetic male sex hormone that stimulates an increase in hemoglobin. In the trials, telomere length in patients treated with danazol increased by an average of 386 pairs in 2 years, Kalado said, and red blood cell mass increased from 9 g per deciliter to 11 g / dL. (In people who are not anemic, this usually ranges from 12 to 16 g / dL.)
Scientists have yet to figure out the side effects of the steroid on healthy people, the source said.
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