Scientists Say They've Just Reversed Aging in Human Cells

To err is human—our own cells do it all the time. But new research suggests that when it comes to aging, there may be a workaround. Scientists report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that they triggered cells to produce the protein telomerase, which lengthens the telomeres at the ends of chromosomes. (Telomeres shorten as we age.) The scientists used cells taken from 17 children with the rare genetic condition progeria, which causes them to age fast and typically die in their teens. Before the therapy, the kids' cells would "multiply very poorly and then die," Cooke tells Vice. After delivering RNA right into the cells to spur the production of telomerase, they saw a "dramatic improvement" as cells "proliferated normally."

The study is small and the research is young, and many experts are highly skeptical. One professor of medical genetics at the University of British Columbia goes so far as to call attempts at telomere lengthening "snake oil," and says that while telomeres shorten as we age, the correlation isn't perfect and doesn't necessarily signal good health or longevity. Plus, there may be at least one evolutionary benefit to telomeres shrinking over time; when cells become too short, they stop dividing and die. At least in the case of cancerous cells, that's a defense mechanism. Meanwhile, a study out of New King’s College London published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology finds that bipolar disorder may shorten telomeres faster, while patients treated with lithium appear to reverse that effect. (Drinking soda and smoking cigarettes are both associated with shorter telomeres.)