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Can This New Enzyme Turn Back the Clock in Bodily Tissues?
The New York Times • • general
Key Points:
- Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) accumulate in the body over time as sugars interact with proteins and fats, contributing to aging and diseases like heart disease, eye damage, kidney disease, and diabetes.
- Previous attempts to develop medications to prevent AGE formation have been unsuccessful, but a new study introduces an enzyme that can remove common AGEs from human tissue, potentially reversing some aging effects.
- The enzyme, developed by Revel Pharmaceuticals and detailed in Nature Communications, helps repair tissue and may enable cells to function more youthfully even after AGEs have accumulated.
- This approach focuses on rejuvenating longer-lived tissue structures like collagen, which has received less attention compared to cellular aging in previous research.
- Researchers view this development as an initial but significant step toward addressing the complex process of aging at a structural level.
