Anti-Aging Property is Not Just in Cream but also in Genes

The discovery of an anti-aging gene in a centenarian population has been shown to lower the biological age of the heart by 10 years. The study, led by experts at the University of Bristol and the MultiMedica Group in Italy and published in Cardiovascular Research, reveals a potential target for those suffering from heart failure. UVR exposure is the primary cause of skin sunburn; it can produce harmful entities such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can accelerate the aging process. Various pharmacological formulations, such as creams, can be used to treat and protect the skin against the harmful effects of ROS. Antioxidants in the cream can quench ROS with their anti-aging properties, resulting in photoprotective benefits. Furthermore, ethnobotanicals are used in modern medicine to prevent or treat human ailments (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Anti-Aging Potential of Phytoextract Loaded-Pharmaceutical Creams for Human Skin Cell Longetivity

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The Anti-Aging Gene

Carriers of healthy mutant genes, like individuals living in the world's blue zones, often live to be 100 years old or more and remain in good health. These people are also less likely to have cardiovascular problems. The British Heart Foundation-funded researchers believe the gene helps keep their hearts young by protecting them from age-related ailments like heart failure.

Researchers show in this new work that one of these beneficial mutant genes, which has previously been found to be particularly common among centenarians, can protect cells obtained from patients with heart failure who require cardiac transplantation.

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Injections Loaded with Mutant Anti-Aging Genes

The Bristol research, led by Professor Paolo Madeddu, discovered that a single injection of the mutant anti-aging gene stopped the decline in cardiac function in middle-aged mice. Even more remarkable, when given to elderly mice, whose hearts exhibit the same abnormalities seen in elderly individuals, the gene rewound the heart's biological clock by more than ten years.

"The heart and blood vessel function are put at risk as we age," said Professor Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Bristol and one of the study's authors. However, the rate at which these negative changes occur varies from person to person. Tobacco, alcohol, and sedentary lifestyles accelerate the aging process. whereas eating well and exercising help to slow the aging of the heart.

"In addition, having good genes inherited from parents can help you stay young and healthy. Genes are sequences of letters that encode proteins. By chance, some of these letters can mutate. Most of these mutations are insignificant; however, in a few cases, the mutation can alter gene function, such as the mutant anti-aging gene we studied on human cells and older mice.

A three-year study of human heart cells in test tube was also conducted in Italy. Professor Annibale Puca of the MultiMedica Group in Milan delivered the gene to heart cells from elderly patients with serious heart issues, including transplantation, and then compared their function to that of healthy individuals.

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Hope for Better Heart Therapy

Monica Cattaneo, a researcher at the MultiMedica Group in Milan, Italy, and the study's first author, stated: "The cells of the elderly patients, in particular those that support the construction of new blood vessels, called ‘pericytes’, were found to be less performing and more aged. By adding the longevity gene or protein to the test tube, we observed a process of cardiac rejuvenation: the cardiac cells of elderly heart failure patients have resumed functioning properly, proving to be more efficient in building new blood vessels."

Centenarians pass on their healthy genes to their descendants. For the first time, the study shows that a healthy gene discovered in centenarians can be transferred to unrelated people to safeguard their hearts. Other mutations with similar or even superior therapeutic potential to the one explored in this study may be discovered in the future. Professor Madeddu and Professor Annibale Puca of the MultiMedica Group in Milan feel that this discovery could pave the way for a new wave of medicines inspired by centenarian genetics.

Professor Madeddu added, "Our findings confirm the healthy mutant gene can reverse the decline in heart performance in older people.” We are now interested in determining if giving the protein instead of the gene can also work. Gene therapy is widely used to treat diseases caused by bad genes. However, a treatment based on a protein is safer and more viable than gene therapy.

"We have received funding from the Medical Research Council to test healthy gene therapy in progeria. This genetic disease, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, causes early aging damage to children’s hearts and blood vessels. We have also been funded by the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK to test the protein in older and diabetic mice, respectively." "In mouse models of disease, gene therapy with the healthy gene has already been shown to prevent the onset of atherosclerosis, vascular aging, and diabetic complications, as well as rejuvenate the immune system," said Annibale Puca, Head of the Laboratory at the IRCCS MultiMedica and Professor at the University of Salerno.

"We have a new confirmation and expansion of the gene's or therapeutic protein's potential. We aim to evaluate its efficacy in clinical studies on heart failure patients soon." "We all want to know the secrets of aging and how we can slow down age-related disease," said Professor James Leiper of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study. Our heart’s function deteriorates with age, but this study found that a variant of a gene found in long-lived people can delay and even reverse heart aging in mice.

"While this is currently early-stage research, it has the potential to give a breakthrough approach to treating people with heart failure and even preventing the terrible ailment from arising in the first place."

To conclude, injecting the genes of so-called 'super-agers' into failing cardiac cells regenerates them, causing them to operate as if they were 10 years younger. This discovery can improve the longevity and well-being of humans as it opens the door for heart failure to be treated or prevented by reprogramming damaged cells.

Reference

1. Anti-Aging Potential of Phytoextract Loaded-Pharmaceutical Creams for Human Skin Cell Longetivity - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26448818/)

Source-Medindia