Chinese scientists develop gene therapy that could delay aging

BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing scientists have developed a new gene therapy that can reverse some of the effects of aging in mice and extend their lifespan, findings that may one day contribute to similar treatment for humans.

The method, detailed in a paper in the journal Science Translational Medicine earlier this month, involves inactivating a gene called kat7, which scientists have found to be a key factor in cellular aging.

The specific therapy they used and the results were a world premiere, said project co-supervisor Professor Qu Jing, 40, a specialist in aging and regenerative medicine from the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS).

“These mice show up after 6-8 months, generally have improved appearance and adhesion strength, and most importantly, have an extended lifespan of about 25%,” Qu said.

The team of biologists from different CAS departments used the CRISPR / Cas9 method to select thousands of genes for those that were particularly powerful drivers of cell senescence, the term used to describe cellular aging.

They identified 100 genes out of about 10,000, and kat7 was most effective in contributing to senescence in cells, Qu said.

Kat7 is one of tens of thousands of genes found in mammalian cells. The researchers inactivated it in the liver of mice using a method called the lentiviral vector.

“We have just tested the function of the gene in different types of cells, in the human stem cell, mesenchymal progenitor cells, in the human liver cell and mouse liver cell and for all these cells we have not seen any detection of cell toxicity. And for mice, too, I haven’t seen any side effects yet. ”

Despite this, the method is far from ready for human testing, Qu said.

“It is still definitely necessary to test kat7 function in other human cells and other organs of mice and other pre-clinical animals before using the strategy for human aging or other health conditions,” she said.

Qu said he hopes to be able to test the primate method further, but that would require more funding and more research first.

“Finally, we hope we can find a way to delay aging even by a very small percentage … in the future.”