Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte (Salk Institute) leads the international research team that has proven that antiaging therapy involves no risk and extends the life span of a premature ageing mouse model.

Ageing involves some non-desired side effects, such as a higher risk to develop cancer or cardiovascular problems. But is it possible to tackle these problems?

A team of international researchers, led by Professor Juan Carlos izpisúa, in collaboration with the biotech company Genentech, has just published an article on Nature Aging claiming that it is possible to restore “safely and effectively” the ageing processes in adult mice. To make this happen, they “reprogramme” mice cells to a juvenile stage. The approach they present also offers a new tool to treat diseases related to tissue ageing, such as neurodegenerative pathologies.

They add to the cells a mix of reprogramming factors for short periods of time to achieve this reprogramming. The reprogramming factors mix restores a youthful DNA structure signature which extends the life span of a premature ageing mouse model.

The researchers have proven different variations of the reprogramming therapy in mice and did not find any negative effect in heath or behaviour. When comparing with the control group, they observed that the treated animals seemed younger when attending to their skin and kidneys.

After publishing this outstanding achievement, the scientific team is already planning further research to analyse how molecules and specific genes change with long-time treatment.