Aging Gene Identified

[Angel]

A gene known for stopping tumor growth may also play a key role in aging, according to three new studies.

Medical teams at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Harvard University lead the studies. Researchers conducted each study separately, but all had similar results.

Researchers focused on a gene called p16INK4a. They found increasing concentration of the gene in older cells. They also report these aging cells worked poorly compared to young cells and remembered their "age" even when transferred from old mice to young mice.

Scientists say this suggests age-related diseases result from a failure of cell growth. "These studies indicate that certain stem cells lose their ability to divide and replace themselves with age as the expression of p16INK4a increases," says Norman E. Sharpless, M.D., co-author of the three studies and an assistant professor of medicine and genetics at UNC School of Medicine.

Authors also say the gene may prove beneficial as a biomarker for studies on aging. Dr. Sharpless says, "If you were going to calorically restrict yourself or take green tea or resveratrol every day for years in an effort to prevent aging, wouldn't you like some evidence that these not entirely benign things were having a beneficial effect? Now, we have a biomarker that can directly test the effects of such things."