Reversing DNA Aging in Mice

Image Source

A research team that was led by Dr. David Sinclair discovered a possible method to reverse or prevent the DNA damage that is caused by aging in mice. Sinclair put drops of NAD+ , which plays a critical role in DNA repair functions, into the water of a group of mice. Their NAD+ levels rose and within the first week, the mice had shown signs of age reversal in muscle and DNA repair improvements. They hypothesized that increasing NAD+ levels reverses aging due to its role in DNA repair and its relationship with a repair compound known as PARP1. When NAD+ levels are high, PARP1 activates. However, since NAD+ levels decrease with age, PARP1 cannot activate. This eventually leads to DNA damage because the DNA is not being repaired.

This topic was an interesting read because I have heard about the potential effects of increasing NAD+ levels before. It has a lot of potential because it could be used to target cancer cells and improve the responses of some patients. It could also treat DNA damage caused by external sources. The discovery can increase our understanding of how cancerous cells can be treated and how DNA damage can be prevented.

References

1. Jun Li, 
2. Michael S. Bonkowski, 
3. Sébastien Moniot, 
4. Dapeng Zhang, 
5. Basil P. Hubbard, 
6. Alvin J. Y. Ling, 
7. Luis A. Rajman, 
8. Bo Qin, 
9. Zhenkun Lou, 
10. Vera Gorbunova, 
11. L. Aravind, 
12. Clemens Steegborn, 
13. David A. Sinclair. 
A conserved NAD+ binding pocket that regulates protein-protein interactions during aging. Science, 2017. http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aad8242