Biological age of humans reversed by years in groundbreaking study
Biological age of humans
reversed by years in groundbreaking study, scientists suggest
Small study is ‘not rock
solid’ but could have huge consequences for ageing, experts say
Andrew Griffin September 6,
2019
The Independent
Volunteers who were given a
cocktail of drugs for a year actually “aged backwards”, losing an average of
2.5 years from their biological ages, according to the new study. The research
showed that the marks on their genomes that represent their “epigenetic clock”,
as well as their immune systems, actually improved despite the passing of time.
The scientists involved in
the study were shocked by the results.
“I’d expected to see slowing
down of the clock, but not a reversal,” researcher Steve Horvath from the
University of California, Los Angeles told Nature, which first reported the
findings. “That felt kind of futuristic.”
Scientists caution that the
study was done with a very limited number of participants: only nine people
took the drug cocktail, and there was no control group. But if it is confirmed
by further research it could have huge impacts on healthcare, the treatment of
disease and how people think about ageing.
In the study, participants
were given a growth hormone and two diabetes medications. Scientists then
monitored the test subjects’ epigenetic clocks, to understand the effect on how
they aged.
The epigenetic clock is
measured by the body’s epigenome – a record of chemical changes to an
organism’s DNA. As people age, chemical modifications or tags are added to
people’s DNA, and those change throughout their lives, so by looking at those
tags a person’s biological age can be measured.
Researchers had actually
intended to look at how the growth hormone would change the tissue in the
thymus gland, which helps with the body’s immune functions and sits in the
chest. It normally shrinks after puberty but they hoped to see whether it could
be pushed to regrow, by giving participants the growth hormone.
It was only as a secondary
consideration that researchers then checked how the drugs changed their
epigenetic clocks. The study had finished when the analysis began.
Professor Horvath then
looked at four different measures of the epigenetic clock to understand the
differing ages of each of the patients. And he found that every one of them had
reversed significantly – so significantly that he is optimistic about the
results, despite the limited number of participants.
Scientists now hope to test
the same effects with more people, through a controlled study, and with
different age groups, ethnicities and with women.
The changes could still be
seen in the blood of six participants who provided samples long after the study
finished.
Some of the drugs used in
the cocktail are already being researched as ways of fighting age-related
diseases. But the discovery of the combined effect of the three of them could
have major implications for the ways that a variety of different drugs are tested,
scientists say.
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