Specialists from the British Pabraham Institute managed to regenerate human skin cells for 30 years.
The new method is based on the technique of obtaining iPS cells from “adults” by means of epigenetic reprogramming. The researchers were able to stop this process midway, achieving biological regeneration of the cells and maintaining their original functions.
Working with skin cells (fibroblasts), the scientists worked on them with Yamanaka agents – special proteins that can return cells to an embryonic state. With conventional reprogramming, cells are exposed to this effect for 50 days, but the authors of the work reduced this period to 13 days. During this time, age-related changes disappeared and the cells lost their functionality, but then, under normal conditions, I was able to restore them and begin to produce collagen.
Analysis of age markers showed that the cells appeared 30 years younger. To test whether this affected the “workability” of the cells, the researchers simulated a wound by cutting a layer of cells in a Petri dish. Regenerated fibroblasts reach the edges of the fissure more actively than old cells.
“Our results represent a major step forward in our understanding of cell reprogramming. We demonstrate that cells can regenerate without losing their function, and that regeneration aims to restore some of the functions of old cells,” the study authors say.
The researchers also note that the findings open up avenues for regenerative medicine. In addition, they found that regeneration affects genes associated with a number of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and cataracts, and these changes likely reduce the risk of these diseases.
