The researchers at Houston Methodist Research Institute have found a way to reverse aging of human cells. The study on children with progeria disease found the remedy for aging and early deaths.
Progeria is the genetic abnormality which causes aging and early death of children and it was best portrayed in Bollywood film 'Paa' wherein actor Amitabh Bachchan has enacted the role of a boy suffering from the disease. Dr. John Cooke, the lead author of the research paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology said, "We can make aged cells younger."
Dr. John Cooke's team focused on the telomeres of patients' cells, the tip of chromosomes which decreases its length with age. They used a method known as RNA therapeutics for lengthening the telomeres through the production of its molecular protein telomerase. The technique was found to give a positive response in lab research as the modal cells had increased their lifespan.
Cooke said, "Before, cells would multiply very poorly and then die. After the procedure is done, "cells proliferated normally. It was a dramatic improvement." The cells didn't show any signs of aging after the treatment.
However, scientists said further researches are necessary before introducing the treatment in humans. They said that the positive result obtained from the experiments conducted in a petri dish does not mean that the treatment could be widely implemented.
Another research conducted by the Inter-disciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine had found cures for frailty in older adults through the studies on stem cells.
The Journal of Gerontology stated about the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) treatment reversed aging of adult stem cells. The laboratory trials conducted on stem cells collected from bone marrow of frail patients between ages of 20 and 45 years showed positive results of curing. The cells showed improvement in their quality and lifespan. Another laboratory trail done on patients of random background too found similar results.
Meanwhile, U.S. scientists had developed two new molecular editing tools which could help cure the majority of the genetic diseases in humans. The two methods were based on editing codes of the genetic material DNA and the RNA which carries codes for protein synthesis. The single letter genetic codes in genes which cause the genetic disorders would be replaced with the correct corresponding code for curing the disease.
This method is believed to give better results than the method of cutting the genetic materials using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool.
Chinese researchers have already done the study on embryos and have made changes in them. But the scientists said they haven't applied this method to humans yet. Fearing Frankenstein-sort of humans, many countries have banned genetic researches on humans per se.
