A group of international researchers have found in a study that there is a special gene among people who have passed the age of 100, which keeps their hearts young and prevents the occurrence of age-related diseases such as heart failure. They now hope to be able to use this gene for treatment, and of course, with its help, they have been able to rejuvenate the hearts of old mice.
Scientists from the University of Bristol and the MultiMedica group in Italy say they have found this gene, known as the anti-aging gene, in people who live in the watery areas of the earth. Blue areas are areas where people live longer on average. Researchers say people who live to be 100 years old have a mutated gene that protects their hearts from certain diseases.
Bristol University researchers say that by injecting this anti-aging gene into middle-aged mice, they have been able to prevent the decline of their heart functions. Also, when this gene was injected into old mice, it was as if the biological clock of their heart was turned back by 10 human years.
On the other hand, Italian researchers performed the same experiment on human heart cells in the laboratory. They tested the anti-aging gene on the heart cells of elderly patients with acute heart problems and then compared the results with healthy people.
What was the effect of the youth gene on human heart cells?
“Cells of elderly patients, especially those cells that support the construction of new blood vessels and are called ‘pericytes’, had lower function and higher senescence,” says Manica Cattaneo, a researcher at MultiMedica Group and senior author of the paper. [But] when the longevity gene or protein was added to them, we observed the process of cardiac rejuvenation: the cells with heart failure resumed their proper function and showed that they could be more effective at making new blood vessels.”
Scientists deeply believe that this research can lead to a new wave of treatments for the elderly. “Our findings confirm that this mutated gene can reverse the decline in heart function in the elderly,” says Professor Paolo Maddo from the University of Bristol. Now we want to see if we can do this by injecting protein instead of gene. Gene therapy is mainly used to treat diseases caused by defective genes. But protein-based therapy can be safer and more accessible than gene therapy.”
The results of this study have been published in the journal Cardiovascular Research.
