David Sinclair, a Harvard geneticist, has demonstrated that one of the primary causes of aging are epigenetic changes that can be reset. His work supports the idea that increasing life span could be accomplished by slowing or even reversing the aging process.
Sinclair’s lab uses NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide), a precursor that transforms into NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide). NAD+ has been shown to boost health and extend longevity among yeast, mice, and dogs.
What Is Epigenetics?
Epigenetics is still relatively new field of research, but what we know so far indicates it primarily affects how genes are expressed and used rather than DNA sequence itself. If someone with identical genes but healthier health results than you has higher chances of epigenetic mismatch; perhaps because they use their genes differently.
Genes can be thought of as miniature information files that store the code needed to produce proteins, and are protected by histone proteins that act like locks to secure their code until needed. Epigenetics refers to the process whereby these histone proteins can be modified without altering their genetic code; this gives each cell its unique identity known as its phenotype.
Phenotype can be affected by many different factors, ranging from diet and sunlight exposure to smoking or not smoking. All these elements may alter how a gene is utilized by the body and potentially have an impact on cell functions that could even lead to different diseases.
Epigenetic changes that influence how genes function are divided into three general classes. One type is methylation, in which small chemical tags are added to genes to either switch off or activate it and alter which protein will be made as a result.
Epigenetic changes also include adding or removing chemical groups attached to histone proteins, which may make them more or less active, which in turn affects how much protein is produced from genes as well as when or if they turn on or off.
Epigenetic changes that involve gene binding to histone proteins, and thus how histone proteins regulate them can have an impact on how their gene is expressed; such changes can be passed down from parent to child through transgenerational inheritance.
How Can Epigenetics Be Reversed?
Scientists have spent decades searching for biological mechanisms that lead to aging. Recently, they stumbled on epigenetics – the cellular control mechanisms which determine which genes are activated and deactivated – which has provided clues. Scientists quickly realized something was amiss with molecular signals which activate DNA and produce proteins; environmental factors can alter them but most importantly these signals can be reversed by resetting our cells’ epigenetic clocks.
Reversing the aging process can help researchers uncover ways to both prevent disease and extend lifespan, but doing so is easier said than done. Scientists must first gain an understanding of what causes aging before being able to slow or reverse it and target specific parts of their bodies needing rejuvenation.
For this task, the researchers turned to mice. With viruses, they managed to introduce the Yamanaka gene into their cells; it produces protein which switches on reprogramming switches within cells which then resets their ageing clock reversing signs of ageing such as gray fur or less active cells – creating dramatic results! Reprogrammed mice looked younger and showed less signs of ageing – as seen by their youthful appearance and reduced signs such as gray fur or less active cells.
Sinclair and her team have recently begun reverse-timing cells in human tissues by linking activation of certain genes with an antibiotic called doxycycline, so taking this drug would start rewinding their clocks while stopping would stop them. Their efforts have already seen results rewinding the clocks of neurons, skin cells, and connective tissue fibroblasts; currently being laboratory-tested on nonhuman primates before moving on to clinical testing it with people in near future.
Dreamers hope that rewinding technology can be used to rejuvenate tissues and organs – eventually whole animals and humans – which would enable scientists to study diseases associated with aging more effectively like Alzheimer’s by producing older animal tissue equivalent to that of younger animals or people; potentially leading to drugs which extend lifespan or prevent diseases associated with aging; however this all remains far off and many early claims made regarding such compounds has caused great controversy among scientists as well as social media outrage.
How Can Epigenetics Be Used To Reverse Aging?
Scientists have long been able to slow the effects of aging by altering specific DNA sequences. But until recently, scientists were not able to reverse it, since changes that cause aging are not just genetic but epigenetic as well. Now it is known that an imbalance in epigenetic information may contribute to aging; restoration can reverse it and potentially transform human health and lengthen lifespan significantly. This development in aging research marks one of the greatest breakthroughs ever and promises lasting improvements for human wellbeing and lifespan extension.
Scientists used to believe that DNA changes were responsible for aging; however, a recent study from Sinclair’s lab demonstrates otherwise; rather it’s the loss of epigenetic information which plays a much more prominent role.
The team employed a new tool they had developed to assess chromatin compaction in mouse cells. This tool detected sites where epigenetic marks that indicate when genes should be active had been lost. They injected these mice with AAVs containing OSKM, which can reverse epigenetic changes and restore normality to chromatin; after injection they found most lost epigenetic marks were restored – marking it as the first successful use of epigenetic technology to counter aging in mammalian cells.
OSKM reprogramming factors were designed to work by targeting histone proteins that bind DNA together tightly into compact structures known as chromatin, and prevent any of the RNA molecules that transcribe and translate DNA sequences into protein blueprints from being translated and translated into proteins – this is essentially how gene expression is controlled.
Sinclair’s research indicates that reversing degradation of epigenetic marks in chromatin allows gene activity to return to its previous level, thus rejuvenating cells back to their youthful selves. His work supports his “information theory of aging”, in which our natural repair mechanisms function throughout our lives to fix double-strand breaks and other mutations while gradually degrading epigenetic marks with age.
