A grad student’s wild idea triggers a major aging breakthrough

 

Senescent “zombie” cells are linked to aging and multiple diseases, but spotting them in living tissue has been notoriously difficult. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have now taken an inventive leap by using aptamers—tiny, shape-shifting DNA molecules—to selectively tag these elusive cells. The project began as an offbeat conversation between two graduate students and quickly evolved into a collaborative, cross-lab effort that uncovered aptamers capable of binding to unique surface proteins on senescent cells.

A serendipitous student idea led to a new aptamer-based method for pinpointing senescent “zombie” cells and advancing future aging therapies. Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com

One potential strategy for treating a wide range of illnesses involves targeting senescent cells. These cells -- also known as "zombie cells" -- stop multiplying but fail to clear themselves from the body as healthy cells normally do. They appear in many conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and throughout the aging process. Although scientists are working on ways to eliminate or repair these cells, a major challenge has been detecting them within living tissue without disturbing nearby healthy cells.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic, writing in the journal Aging Cell, describe a new method for labeling senescent cells. Their approach uses "aptamers" -- short pieces of synthetic DNA that fold into three-dimensional structures. These structures can attach to proteins found on the outer surfaces of cells. In experiments with mouse cells, the team identified several rare aptamers, selected from more than 100 trillion random DNA sequences, that were able to recognize specific surface proteins and mark senescent cells.

"This approach established the principle that aptamers are a technology that can be used to distinguish senescent cells from healthy ones," says biochemist and molecular biologist Jim Maher, III, Ph.D., a principal investigator of the study. "Though this study is a first step, the results suggest the approach could eventually apply to human cells."

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