Researchers reverse ageing process and cure chronic lung condition in rats

Typically caused by heart attacks or injuries, pulmonary fibrosis is where the tissue in the lungs becomes scarred and hardens, eventually reducing patients' respiratory capacity and making it harder and harder for them to breathe.

Until now, it had no known cure.

Causes are many and varied and it is more common in those aged over 70, especially if they have been exposed to asbestos or other toxins or have a family history of the condition.

Dr María A. Blasco of the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and gene-therapy expert Dr Fàtima Bosch of Barcelona Autonomous University have managed to cure 'idiopathic' pulmonary fibrosis – or a type with an undefined or unknown cause.

They found that all sufferers had shorter telomeres than non-sufferers.

Telomeres are a protein structure which protect cells and are located at the tail end of the chromosomes inside them, and the ageing process is associated with telomeres reducing in size.

Each time a cell divides, it copies the genetic material, or DNA, from its existing chromosomes, but the telomeres reduce with each division until the point where they become toxic for the cell, which stops dividing and dies off.

This is what causes age-related 'wear and tear' and eventually leads to illnesses associated with age.

Just over five years ago, the CNIO discovered an enzime known as 'telomerasa' which is capable of lengthening shortened telomeres again or, literally, reversing the ageing process by restoring protection of the chromosomes in cells.

“At that point, we saw that activating this enzime using gene therapy made rats live longer, and we started testing its effects on age-related illnesses to see whether the same treatment which slows down the ageing process would have therapeutic effects in conditions caused by shortening telomeres, such as heart disease, aplastic anaemia [where the bone marrow does not produce sufficient red and white blood cells and platelets] and fibrosis,” Dr Blasco explains.

Her team bred rats exposed to environmental damage that causes the same type of telomere reduction, or cell wear and tear, as humans suffer over the course of their lives, then they applied the gene therapy to activate the enzime and repair the worn-away chromosome 'tails'.

After just three weeks of treatment, the rats showed an improved lung capacity with less inflammation and fibrosis, and after two months of gene therapy, the condition had either dramatically improved or disappeared altogether.

The process of extrapolating the results to humans is already under way, say Dr Bosch and Dr Blasco, since they are already developing the same type of gene therapy in the laboratory before clinical trials can start.

One of the CNIO's most-advanced projects at present is in reversing myocardial infarction, where narrowing arteries lead to heart tissue 'dying off' and the heart enlarging as it is forced to pump harder to obtain enough oxygen.

Along with Dr Francisco Fernández-Avilés, head of cardiology at Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Hospital, the researchers are already trialling models 'close to human ones'.

“There's still a lot of work to do, but we're taking all the steps we can to enable us to get to the clinical trial stage as soon as we can,” Dr Blasco concludes.