"Will the conundrum of mankind finally be solved?" Gene discovered slowing AI aging rate

사진 확대

A new gene has been discovered that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to slow aging. Old mice administered the gene showed a 44% slower progression of senility and increased survival time.

According to related industries on the 14th (local time), an international joint team of researchers, including Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School and Dr. Alexandru Plesa of Weiss Research Institute, published a study in the international journal Nature Aging showing that the gene 'SRSF1' has the effect of returning aging cells to a young state.

Technology that reverses aging has been a long-standing research topic in the scientific community. Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Japan, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2012, also developed a technology to return mature cells to their initial state using four genes.

However, excessive activation of these genes is said to have limitations, such as the cell losing its original function or increasing the risk of cancer.

In particular, researchers have sought out new genes that can reverse aging by using AI. First, we developed an AI that estimates the biological age of cells by analyzing how actively genes work in human skin cells.

After that, the genes that are expected to affect aging are activated one by one to check how young the cells become.

It was the SRSF1 gene that showed the most outstanding effect. This gene serves to process the genetic information needed for cells to make proteins. When researchers activated this gene in skin cells of aged people, cell aging and chronic inflammation decreased

The ability to repair damaged DNA has also been improved. In particular, the cells restored the characteristics of young cells without losing their original function.

The researchers confirmed whether it actually worked through animal experiments. As a result of injecting the SRSF1 gene into old mice using the virus as a carrier, the anti-aging effect was seen throughout the body even though the gene was mainly delivered to the liver. Mice given the gene had a 44% slower progression of senescence than mice that did not, and the median survival was 14% longer.

The researchers assessed that changes in the liver may have also affected the aging of other organs.

This is an early study of human cultured cells and mice. In order to apply it to humans, it is also necessary to develop technologies that safely deliver genes to desired tissues and control the degree of activation.

The researchers said, "The long-term research goal has been to increase the period of healthy life by controlling the activity of specific genes in aging tissues. This discovery is an important step toward that goal."