9/23/2011 PERMALINK
Scientists have reversed the aging process in human adult stem cells. Reversing the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate creates a path for developing stem cell treatments that can repair the host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age. A research group led by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted the study in cell culture that pinpoints what is going wrong with the biological clock underlying the limited division of human adult stem cells as they age. The regenerative power of tissues and organs declines as we age. An understanding of the molecules and processes that enable human adult stem cells to initiate self-renewal and to divide, proliferate and then differentiate in order to rejuvenate damaged tissue is thought to be the key to regenerative medicine cures for many age-related diseases. "We demonstrated that we were able to reverse the process of aging for human adult stem cells by intervening with the activity of non-protein coding RNAs originated from genomic regions once dismissed as non-functional 'genomic junk'," said Victoria Lunyak, associate professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.