British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation
01/23/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/23/2023 05:31
Anti-ageing gene shown to rewind heart age by 10 years
An anti-ageing gene discovered in centenarians has been shown to rewind the heart's biological age by ten years, according to research we've funded and published in Cardiovascular Research.
The scientists from the University of Bristol and the MultiMedica Group in Italy say that the breakthrough could offer a possible way to treat patients with heart failure.
Associated with exceptional longevity, carriers of healthy mutant genes, like those living in 'blue zones' of the planet, often live to 100 years or more and remain in good health. These individuals are also less prone to cardiovascular complications. Scientists believe the gene helps to keep their hearts young by protecting them against diseases linked to ageing, such as heart failure.
The team, led by BHF-funded researcher Professor Paolo Madeddu, revealed that one of these healthy mutant genes, previously proved particularly frequent in centenarians, can protect cells collected from patients with heart failure requiring a heart transplant. They found that a single administration of the mutant anti-ageing gene halted the decay of heart function in middle age mice.
Rewinding the heart's biological clock
Even more remarkably, when given to elderly mice, whose hearts exhibit the same alterations seen in elderly patients, the gene rewound the heart's biological clock age by the human equivalent of more than ten years.
Professor Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine from Bristol Heart Institute at the University of Bristol said:
"The heart and blood vessel function is put at stake as we age. However, the rate at which these harmful changes occur is different among people. Smoking, alcohol, and sedentary life make the aging clock faster. Whereas eating well and exercising delay the heart's aging clock."
Could lead to revolutionary treatment
Professor James Leiper, our Associate Medical Director, said:
"We all want to know the secrets of ageing and how we might slow down age-related disease. Our heart function declines with age but this research has extraordinarily revealed that a variant of a gene that is commonly found in long-lived people can halt and even reverse ageing of the heart in mice.
"This is still early stage research, but could one day provide a revolutionary way to treat people with heart failure and even stop the debilitating condition from developing in the first place."
Professor Madeddu added: "Our findings confirm the healthy mutant gene can reverse the decline of heart performance in older people. We are now interested in determining if giving the protein instead of the gene can also work. Gene therapy is widely used to treat diseases caused by bad genes. However, a treatment based on a protein is safer and more viable than gene therapy."
The research was also funded by the Italian Ministry of Health.