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Chinese scientists develop gene therapy which could delay ageing

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Published on 20 Jan 2021 / In Film and Animation

Source:- Newzee

Scientists in Beijing have developed a new gene therapy which can reverse some of the effects of ageing in mice and extend their lifespans, findings which may one day contribute to similar treatment for humans.
The method, detailed in a paper in the Science Translational Medicine journal earlier this month, involves inactivating a gene called kat7 which the scientists found to be a key contributor to cellular ageing.
The specific gene therapy they used and the results were a world first, said co-supervisor of the project Professor Qu Jing, 40, a specialist in ageing and regenerative medicine from the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
"These mice show after 6-8 months overall improved appearance and grip strength and most importantly they have extended lifespan for about 25%," Qu said.
The team of biologists from different departments at CAS used the CRISPR/Cas9 method to screen thousands of genes in search of those which were particularly strong drivers of cellular senescence, the term used to describe cellular ageing. They identified 100 genes out of around 10,000 and kat7 was the one which really stood out.
It was the most efficient at contributing to senescence in cells, Qu said.
Kat7 is one of tens of thousands of genes found in the cells of mammals.
The researchers inactivated the gene in the livers of the mice using a method called a lentiviral vector.
"We just tested the function of the gene in different kinds of cell types, in the human stem cell, the mesenchymal progenitor cells, in the human liver cell and the mouse liver cell and for all of these cells we didn't see any detectable cellular toxicity. And for the mice, we also didn't see any side effect yet."
Despite this, the method is a long way from being ready for human trials, Qu said, adding it is necessary to test the function of kat7 in other cell types of humans and other organs of mice and in the other pre-clinical animals before using the strategy to the human ageing or the other health conditions.
Qu said she hopes to be able to test the method on primates next, but it would require a lot of funding and much more research first.
"In the end, we hope that we can find a way to delay ageing even by a very minor percentage...in the future."

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