Can genes from centenarians rejuvenate us in the future?

Some people live 100 years or more and are therefore often the subject of research. Scientists are eager to find out why they are less susceptible to disease and aging.

Researchers from the United Kingdom Heart Foundation I think that some genes protect against aging of the heart. In a new study, they show that one such healthy mutated gene, previously found to occur mainly in centenarians, can protect cells.

The team found that a single administration of this anti-aging mutated gene slowed the decline in heart function in middle-aged mice. Even more impressive, the gene, once given to aged mice whose hearts show the same changes as older humans, sets the heart’s biological clock back by the equivalent of more than a decade.

Good genes

“Cardiovascular function decreases as we age,” says Paulo Madedo of the University of Bristol. “The speed at which these changes occur varies from person to person. Smoking, alcohol, and a sedentary lifestyle accelerate aging, while healthy eating and exercise actually slow heart rate progression,” he says.

In addition, good genes, which people inherited from their parents, can help them stay young and healthy. Genes are strings of letters that code for proteins. By chance, some of these characters can mutate. These mutations are often insignificant, but in some cases they can make a gene’s function worse or better. Such is the case with the anti-aging mutated gene that we studied here on human cells and older mice.”

Centenarians pass their good genes on to their children, but the study has now shown for the first time that a healthy gene from centenarians can be passed on (via gene therapy) to random other people. Then they will experience the same health benefits.

The researchers hope that they will be able to start clinical studies in heart patients soon.

The results of the study have been published in Cardiovascular research.