A University at Buffalo-led research team received partial grant funding by the National Institute of Health (NIH) has shown that a protein is effective at reversing aging in skeletal muscle cells. Other grants were provided by the National Institute on Aging; a Veteran Affairs Biomedical Laboratory Research Development grant; and an Indian Trail Charitable Foundation grant.
The study was published Sept. 3 in Science Advances centering on the protein NANOG. Interestingly, the term NANOG refers to mythical land of youth in Irish folklore. Researchers overexpressed NANOG in myoblasts, which are the embryonic precursors to muscle tissue. The myoblasts were senescent, translating they were no longer able to divide and grow.
INTRODUCTION
Cellular senescence due to aging or chronic disease impedes stem cell function and regeneration (1). Skeletal muscle is a highly regenerative organ that comprises ~45% of body mass and enables skeletal movements while also regulating metabolism. Muscle regeneration relies on myogenic progenitors that, when activated, proliferate, differentiate, and contribute to the regeneration of damaged myofibers. However, both the number of myogenic progenitors and their regenerative capacity decline with aging and cellular senescence (2).
Recently, we discovered that expression of NANOG in C2C12 myoblasts restored their myogenic differentiation potential, as evidenced by expression of myogenic regulatory factors and the ability to form myotubes, which was impaired by replicative senescence (27). This result prompted us to investigate the anti-aging effects of NANOG on primary human myoblasts and in skeletal muscle tissue in vivo. Here, we show that overexpression of NANOG reversed the hallmarks of cellular senescence in muscle progenitors in vitro and restored the satellite cell abundance in the skeletal muscle of LAKI progeria mice.
For more detailed information about this study , please reference: Science.org
Acknowledgments
Funding: NIH NHLBI R01 HL086582 (S.T.A.), NIA R01 AG052387 (S.T.A.), and NIA R01 AG068250 (S.T.A.); Veteran Affairs Biomedical Laboratory Research Development grant BX004369 (B.R.T.); NIH K07 AG060266 (B.R.T.); and Indian Trail Foundation grant (B.R.T.). Author contributions: Conceptualization: A.Sh. and S.T.A. Methodology: A.Sh., S.T.A, S.L., A.St., J.P., and P.L. Investigation: A.Sh., N.R., S.S., D.C., K.V., T.N., J.K., T.S., I.I., Y.Z., J.W., A.St., R.T., K.S., and J.P. Visualization: A.Sh. Supervision: S.T.A. Writing–original draft: A.Sh. and S.T.A. Writing–review and editing: A.Sh., S.T.A, P.L., B.R.T., and J.P.
Article Credits Science.org
