Children tend to heal much more quickly than worn out adults, but could the resiliency be recreated in older humans?
A research found that by "reactivating a dormant gene" called Lin28a, which is normally present in embryonic stem cells, they could repair all types of soft tissue, and even hair, a Boston Children's Hospital news release reported.
"Efforts to improve wound healing and tissue repair have mostly failed, but altering metabolism provides a new strategy which we hope will prove successful," study senior investigator George Q. Daley, MD, PhD, director of Boston Children's Stem Cell Transplantation Program, said.
The team found the gene enhanced mitochondria's' metabolism, which helped produce more energy in cells.
"Most people would naturally think that growth factors are the major players in wound healing, but we found that the core metabolism of cells is rate-limiting in terms of tissue repair," adds PhD candidate Shyh-Chang Ng, co-first author on the paper with Hao Zhu, MD, both scientists in the Daley Lab. "The enhanced metabolic rate we saw when we reactivated Lin28a is typical of embryos during their rapid growth phase."
The gene Lin28 was originally found in worms, but is believed to be present in all "complex organisms." These genes are at their peak during an animal's embryonic phase. It binds to RNA and controls the transition from gene to protein.
The team observed exactly what RNA Lin28 was binding to in order to better-understand it. They initially believed it would bind to Let-7, which plays a role in cell aging.
"We were confident that Let-7 would be the mechanism," Shyh-Chang said. "But there was something else involved."
They also found that it worked to enhance mitochondrial function.
"We already know that accumulated defects in mitochondrial metabolism can lead to aging in many cells and tissues," Shyh-Chang said. "We are showing the converse-that enhancement of mitochondrial metabolism can boost tissue repair and regeneration, recapturing the remarkable repair capacity of juvenile animals."
The research suggests the dormant gene could aid in the future of regeneration technology.
"Since Lin28 itself is difficult to introduce into cells, the fact that we were able to activate mitochondrial metabolism pharmacologically gives us hope," Shyh-Chang said.
