{"id":356,"date":"2018-07-05T09:31:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T09:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=356"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:31:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T09:31:17","slug":"worms-may-hold-the-secret-to-longer-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/356\/worms-may-hold-the-secret-to-longer-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Worms may hold the secret to longer life"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Gareth Willmer<\/p>\n

Research into the remarkable regenerative powers of worms and the insights they can give into battling diseases could help humans live longer and healthier lives.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Humans have long dreamed of finding the secret to eternal youth, but despite the benefits of better living conditions and modern medicine, time still takes its unrelenting toll on our bodies.<\/p>\n

While people today live longer than ever before, age-related diseases such as dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions rob people of the chance of living healthy lives into old age.<\/p>\n

But researchers have a secret weapon in the battle with the ageing process \u2013 the humble worm. Flatworms have the ability to regrow large parts of their bodies after losing them. Roundworms, meanwhile, may hold the secret to counteracting neurodegenerative scourges like Alzheimer\u2019s disease and conditions such as muscular dystrophy.<\/p>\n

Scientists see these creatures as a rich source of potential clues about the ageing process and how we too might regenerate tissues.<\/p>\n

In a project called\u00a0MacModel, researchers are using the flatworm\u00a0Macrostomum lignano<\/em>, which is normally found living in the tidal sands of the Adriatic Sea, to investigate ageing mechanisms. Previous research observed that the animals had a remarkable ability to regenerate, and that the worms tended to live for longer after repeated amputation, suggesting that something about the regeneration process also rejuvenated them.<\/p>\n

Professor Eugene Berezikov, principal investigator for MacModel and a stem cell researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and his team, tried to investigate further by severing the worms\u2019 heads to induce regeneration.<\/p>\n

Their findings, however, appeared to contradict the earlier research \u2013 after multiple amputations, flatworms had decreased survival compared to intact worms. But there was another major difference with the earlier findings \u2013 both worms that underwent amputations and those that did not tended to live longer than the median 200-day lifespan seen in the previous research.<\/p>\n

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‘We found something remarkable, we think \u2013 that the animal is a Methuselah with natural mechanisms to offset ageing.’<\/p>\n

Professor Eugene Berezikov, University of Groningen, Netherlands<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Many of Prof. Berezikov\u2019s worms were still alive after a whopping 740 days, including about 70% of the intact worms. This defies the tendency for small organisms to be shorter-lived, explains Prof. Berezikov.<\/p>\n

\u2018Macrostomum<\/em>\u00a0is very small, about 1 millimetre, so for it to live for more than two years makes it a huge outlier,\u2019 he said. Often, a creature of this size would be expected to live just a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Naturally long-lived<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof. Berezikov speculates that these worms may be naturally long-lived and parasites may have contaminated the worms used in earlier research. When they were amputated, the worms may have lived longer in the previous research not because they rejuvenated, but because the cutting eradicated their unwanted guests.<\/p>\n

To probe deeper, Prof. Berezikov and his colleagues delved into the worm\u2019s genome and now believe they have found a possible explanation for its longevity \u2013 several genes that were more active in older worms. These genes, which are also found in humans, are involved in various processes responsible for a cell\u2019s wellbeing, and some are already known to benefit lifespan when extremely active in mice and the nematode worm\u00a0Caenorhabditis elegans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is a very good example of where we started with one thing and ended up with something completely different,\u2019 said Prof. Berezikov. \u2018We found something even more remarkable, we think \u2013 that the animal is a Methuselah with natural mechanisms to offset ageing.\u2019<\/p>\n

The results may also be easier to translate into potential treatments for humans than if the researchers had found that the extended lifespan was indeed down to regeneration. For now, the researchers behind MacModel are still attempting to unravel how these genes lead to longer life in the worms, before they can be used to aid the development of treatments to extend human life.<\/p>\n

The MacModel researchers have also produced a high-quality annotated genome sequence for\u00a0M. lignano<\/em>, along with other genetic modification tools that Prof. Berezikov believes have created a powerful model for further studies into stem cells and ageing.<\/p>\n

He warned, however, that it could take a decade before these can be used for applications in humans. First, the team hopes to test the genes they identified in\u00a0M. lignano<\/em>\u00a0in model species more relevant to humans, such as the short-lived fish\u00a0Nothobranchius furzeri\u00a0<\/em>(killifish) and mice.<\/p>\n

But worms do not just have the power to potentially extend human life, they may also hold lessons about how to improve its quality. A research project called REPROWORM is using worms to look at reprogramming cells to regenerate brain and nerve tissues in an attempt to treat conditions like Alzheimer\u2019s disease and muscular dystrophy.<\/p>\n

The researchers behind the project are using the nematode, or roundworm,\u00a0C. elegans<\/em>species, which has a similar number of genes to humans \u2013 about 20,000 \u2013 more than half of which have human equivalents.<\/p>\n

Dr Baris Tursun, principal investigator for REPROWORM and a researcher at the Max Delbr\u00fcck Center in Berlin, Germany, and his team, screened all 20,000 of the worm\u2019s genes. Their aim was to identify specific genes that may have a role in blocking cells from being reprogrammed. They hoped that turning off these genes could then allow cells to be converted into other cell types needed to repair damaged tissues, such as stem cells and neurons.<\/p>\n

Overcoming barriers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The analysis identified about 160 genes that seem to play a role in blocking cell fate reprogramming. Subsequent tests of a number of these in a type of human cell known as fibroblasts showed that some of these genes have a role as a barrier for reprogramming cells in both people and\u00a0C. elegans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The researchers are now planning to test more of the blocking genes they identified in\u00a0C. elegans<\/em>\u00a0to see if they too could be applied to human cells.<\/p>\n

But there are safety concerns that will need to be investigated, as it is still unknown how well cells that have been reprogrammed in this way will behave once they are transplanted back into humans, said Dr Tursun. They might replicate uncontrollably to form tumours, for example.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think it will take several years before we can approach it,\u2019 added Dr Tursun. But he said it was exciting to see how findings in these tiny creatures can be extended to human cells.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is the concept of using this mighty little worm as a strategy to work in vivo (in a living organism) and do a lot with genetics to find mechanisms, principles and concepts that we can also really apply to human cells,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n

Originally published on Horizon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Gareth Willmer Research into the remarkable regenerative powers of worms and the insights they can give into battling diseases could help humans live longer and healthier lives. Humans have long dreamed of finding the secret to eternal youth, but despite the benefits of better living conditions and modern medicine, time still takes its unrelenting … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[37,95,79,24,171,170],"class_list":["post-356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-health","tag-medicine","tag-research","tag-science","tag-treatment","tag-worms"],"yoast_head":"\nWorms may hold the secret to longer life - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/356\/worms-may-hold-the-secret-to-longer-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worms may hold the secret to longer life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Gareth Willmer Research into the remarkable regenerative powers of worms and the insights they can give into battling diseases could help humans live longer and healthier lives. 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