Scientists have converted immature blood cells into stem-like cells capable of producing cells of the nervous system. As the cells took on this new identity, a test based on chemical marks on their DNA gave them much younger age estimates. The laboratory study, published in Aging Cell, offers a way to follow how these two changes develop together. Aging Cell (source, opens in new tab)Aging CellProtracted Fate Acquisition and Epigenetic De-Aging During Induced Neural Stem Cell Conversion of Human Blood CellsOpen source (opens in new tab)
The test uses patterns of DNA methylation—chemical marks on DNA—to estimate what researchers call epigenetic age. A lower reading does not establish that the cells function as younger cells, or that ageing has been reversed in a person. The authors caution that changing the type of cell may itself affect the estimate.
The researchers began with blood-cell precursors that would normally develop into red blood cells. By temporarily boosting two regulators of gene activity, SOX2 and cMYC, they converted these precursors into induced neural stem cells. The study used cells from 15 donors aged 0 to 101.
Early in laboratory cultivation, the converted cells had DNA-methylation age estimates averaging about 13% of their donors’ chronological ages. After further rounds of cultivation, the figure was about 5%. Those percentages compare the test’s age estimates with the donors’ ages; they do not measure how much biological ageing remained in the cells.
To examine the timing more closely, the researchers tracked cells from three older donors. The reduction in epigenetic age continued over several weeks, with most age-associated signatures reset by about 50 days. That gradual process gives scientists time to investigate how acquiring a new cell identity relates to changes in ageing markers. Whether the lower readings also reflect broader improvements in cell function remains uncertain.
- Aging Cell · Peer-reviewed studyProtracted Fate Acquisition and Epigenetic De-Aging During Induced Neural Stem Cell Conversion of Human Blood Cellsonlinelibrary.wiley.com · opens in new tab
