Again step by step we
are discovering how to restore tissue
and this work strongly suggest that the process can even be accelerated. It is not a done deal yet but there is now
plenty of encouragement.
I am expecting that we will achieve
a stable cellular age of around thirty years of age and be able to replace
damage at will. It will not prevent us
from getting killed but it will eliminate natural mortality until we chose to
exit. The astonishing thing is just how
fast this is now shaping up.
In the meantime, applied medical
science remains far too conservative and fails us far too often. To properly survive and prosper, you must
take charge of your own health and apply effective tools were possible.
Researchers regrow
hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues
Enhancing
cell metabolism was an unexpected key to tissue repair
7-Nov-2013
Contact: Irene Sege Image George Daly
Young
animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity
be recaptured in adults? A new study from researchers at the Stem Cell
Program at Boston Children's Hospital suggests that it can. By reactivating a
dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells,
researchers were able to regrow hair and repair cartilage, bone, skin and other
soft tissues in a mouse model.
The
study also found that Lin28a promotes tissue repair in part by enhancing
metabolism in mitochondria—the energy-producing engines in cells—suggesting
that a mundane cellular "housekeeping" function could open new
avenues for developing regenerative treatments. Findings were published online
by the journal Cellon November 7.
"Efforts
to improve wound healing and tissue repair have mostly failed, but altering
metabolism provides a new strategy which we hope will prove successful,"
says the study's senior investigator George Q. Daley, MD, PhD, director of
Boston Children's Stem Cell Transplantation Program and an investigator with
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"Most
people would naturally think that growth factors are the major players in wound
healing, but we found that the core metabolism of cells is rate-limiting in
terms of tissue repair," adds PhD candidate Shyh-Chang Ng, co-first author
on the paper with Hao Zhu, MD, both scientists in the Daley Lab. "The
enhanced metabolic rate we saw when we reactivated Lin28a is typical of embryos
during their rapid growth phase."
Lin28,
first discovered in worms, functions in all complex organisms. It is abundant
in embryonic stem cells, expressed strongly during early embryo formation and
has been used to reprogram skin cells into stem cells. It acts by binding to
RNA and regulating how genes are translated into proteins.
To
better understand how Lin28a promotes tissue repair, the researchers
systematically looked at what specific RNAs it binds to. They initially had
their sights on a tiny RNA called Let-7, which is known to promote cell
maturation and aging.
"We
were confident that Let-7 would be the mechanism," says Shyh-Chang.
"But there was something else involved."
Specifically,
the researchers found that Lin28a also enhances the production of metabolic
enzymes in mitochondria, the structures that produce energy for the cell. By
revving up a cell's bioenergetics, they found, Lin28a helps generate the energy
needed to stimulate and grow new tissues.
"We
already know that accumulated defects in mitochondrial metabolism can lead to
aging in many cells and tissues," says Shyh-Chang. "We are showing
the converse—that enhancement of mitochondrial metabolism can boost tissue
repair and regeneration, recapturing the remarkable repair capacity of juvenile
animals."
Further
experiments showed that bypassing Lin28a and directly activating mitochondrial
metabolism with a small-molecule compound also had the effect of enhancing
wound healing. This suggests the possibility of inducing regeneration and
promoting tissue repair with drugs.
"Since
Lin28 itself is difficult to introduce into cells, the fact that we were able
to activate mitochondrial metabolism pharmacologically gives us hope,"
Shyh-Chang says.
Lin28A
didn't universally induce regeneration in all tissues. Heart tissue showed
little effect, and while the researchers were able to enhance the regrowth of
finger tips in newborn mice, they could not in adults.
"Lin28a
could be a key factor in constituting a healing cocktail," says
Shyh-Chang, "but there are other embryonic factors that remain to be found."
###
The
study was supported by an A*STAR National Science Scholarship, a Graduate
Training in Cancer Research Grant, an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral
Fellowship, a National Institutes of Health K08 grant, CPRIT, a Herchel Smith
Graduate Fellowship, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute and the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research.
Boston
Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at
a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children
and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of
the National Academy of Sciences, 14 members of the Institute of Medicine and
14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's
research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston
Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent
health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and
sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston
Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical
School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston
Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org.
'Fountain of youth'
gene is discovered - and scientists say it could help heal wounds
The
gene, Lin28a, is highly active in unborn children, but does less with age
Harvard
researchers now hope that waking the gene up in adults could speed healing of
wounds after operations
They
say it may also be possible to create a drug that works in the same way
PUBLISHED: 17:06
GMT, 7 November 2013
A
‘fountain of youth gene’ has been identified by scientists.
Experts
have long been puzzled as to why young animals recover from injuries more
quickly than adults.
The
gene, Lin28a, is highly active in unborn children, but does less and less with
age.
A
'fountain of youth gene' has been identified by scientists and helps explain
why young people recover more quickly from injuries than adults
In
tests on mice, it quickened the healing of wounds and sped up regrowth after a
patch of fur was shaved.
It
also helped repair tissues in the ear after they were injured.
Lin28a
achieved all of these effects by increasing the production of several metabolic
enzymes and enhancing metabolic processes that are normally more active in
embryos.
The
Harvard Medical School scientists hope that waking the gene up in the adult
body could speed up the healing of wounds after operations.
Researcher
George Daley said it may be possible to produce a drug that has the same
effect as the gene.
He
added: ‘It sounds like science fiction but Lin28a could be part of a
healing cocktail that gives adults the superior tissue repair seen in
juvenile animals.’
He
said: ‘Why some animals can fully regenerate organs when others cannot is a
longstanding mystery of biology.
‘Our
studies support the concept that mammalian tissue repair can be substantially
improved by engineering the reactivation of genes that regulate juvenile
developmental stages.’
The
research is published in the journal Cell.
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