Scientists may have made a breakthrough that could see us ditching the anti-aging dream creams from our Christmas lists in the future – and it’s all thanks to worms.
Women typically live longer than men, and in the US the average age expectancy between the sexes differs dramatically.
Stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal the average age expectancy is 80.2 for women, compared to the much-lower 74.8 for men.
However, is there a way to stall or even halt the ageing process altogether?
That’s what a team of researchers in Budapest set out to answer and bizarrely made a eureka discovery with the help of worms.
The scientists, led by Dr Ádám Sturm and Dr Tibor Vellai, from Eötvös Loránd University, looked closely at elements in our DNA in a bid to destabilize the genetic codes that age us.
The group specifically looked at the parts of our DNA known as transposable elements (TEs) and carried out their experiments on our wiggly animal friends.
TEs, more commonly known as the ‘jumping gene’, move around in our genetic code.
But if there’s too much movement, our genetic codes can become unstable and our cell function disrupted, which leads to us ageing.
Yet, the research found cancer stem cells don’t age.
Based on this finding, the doctors explored ‘the road to immortality’ by examining the process at work in the cancerous cells, known as the Piwi-piRNA pathway.
They did this by attempting to strengthen the Piwi-piRNA pathway in a worm called Caenorhabditis elegan and reducing the regulation of TEs.
The results made for an astounding discovery as the worms were ageing slower.
And even more interestingly, when the scientists controlled multiple TEs simultaneously, the worm’s lifespan actually increased by up to 30 percent.
They published their discovery in Nature Communications, showing how controlling certain TEs can alter the way genes work in the DNA and, ultimately, slow down the ageing process.
Commenting on the research, Dr Sturm said: “In our lifespan [experiments], by merely downregulating TEs or somatically overexpressing the Piwi-piRNA pathway elements, we observed a statistically significant lifespan advantage.
“This opens the door to a myriad of potential applications in the world of medicine and biology.”
The scientists said the study could even work to find ways to improve human health or even extend lifespans.
On the subject of immortality, Dr Vellai said: “This epigenetic modification may pave the way for a method to determine age from DNA, providing an accurate biological clock.”
