An anti-aging gene discovered in long-livers reduces the biological age of the heart by 10 years. Researchers at the University of Bristol and the Italian medical organization MultiMedica Group have come to this conclusion. The findings were published in the journal Cardiovascular Research.
A single injection of the mutant gene, found in a population of long-livers, stops the deterioration of heart function in middle-aged animals, experiments using a mouse model have shown. When the gene was introduced into elderly rodents, the biological clock of the heart was rewound by 10 human years, which was reflected in restoration of cardiac function and improvement of myocardial perfusion.
It is a variant of the BPIFB4 longevity-associated gene (LAV) whose carriers have a longer lifespan and lower risk of cardiovascular complications.
Researchers from the MultiMedica group in Milan injected the gene into the heart cells of elderly patients with severe heart disease and then compared their function with that of heart cells from healthy individuals. As a result, the cells involved in the formation of new blood vessels in elderly patients with heart failure resumed normal function.