New research reverses human skin cell ageing by 30 years

A new study claims to have reversed human skin cell ageing by 30 years by adapting technology originally used to create the first-ever cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep*.

The team of Cambridge scientists claims to have made the skin cells of a 53-year-old woman 30 years younger.

This is the longest ever reversal of ageing without damaging cells.

The younger cells also responded the same as young people creating more collagen than those that didn’t undergo reprogramming.

What does collagen do in our body? Collagen is a protein responsible for healthy joints and skin elasticity, or stretchiness. It’s in your bones, muscles, and blood, comprising three quarters of your skin and a third of the protein in your body.

And when placed onto an artificial wound, the reprogrammed cells moved to close the gap much quicker than the older ones did.

Researchers are hopeful that the findings will revolutionize regenerative medicine if the techniques can be applied to other cell types, but urged caution as the current process increases the risk of cancers.

The UK-based scientists hope the IPS method they have developed will eventually be able to tackle age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart conditions and neurological disorders.

For more information on eLife.

*Dolly was a female Finnish Dorset sheep and the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. She was cloned by associates of the Roslin Institute in Scotland, using the process of nuclear transfer from a cell taken from a mammary gland. She was euthanised at the age of six after she caught a condition which causes lung cancer in sheep.