Umbilical cord blood, key to the elixir of youth?
BLOOD from human umbilical cords may be the key ingredient for a ‘fountain of youth’ drug, a study suggests.
Researchers identified a protein, commonly found in the cord, which becomes decreasingly present in our blood as we age.
They believe the discovery of the protein – called TIMP2 – could lead to new treatments for age- associated declines in mental ability, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The US researchers found that injections of human cord blood helped to rejuvenate the cognitive functions of elderly mice, boosting their performance in a series of memory and learning tests.
Previously the team, from Stanford University School of Medicine, had found that an injection of blood plasma from young mice into old mice had passed on various mental benefits.
The researchers believe TIMP2 affects a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is critical for converting experiences into long-term memories.
Senior author Dr Tony WyssCoray, a professor of neurology and neurological sciences, said: ‘For largely unknown reasons, the hippocampus is especially vulnerable to normal aging.
‘With advancing age, the hippocampus degenerates, loses nerve cells and shrinks. Hippocampal deterioration is also an early manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease.’
Umbilical cord stem cells have previously been found to replenish the body’s blood and immune sys- tems and treat a number of illnesses including a range of cancers and genetic diseases.
In the study, elderly mice were injected with either blood plasma collected from the umbilical cord of newborn babies, plasma from young adults, plasma from the elderly or a placebo. Among the mice who were given cord blood plasma every fourth day for two weeks, many measures of hippocampal function improved notably, with their performance in mazes and other tests being ‘stellar’ compared to the placebo group.
Cells in their hippocampus were also found to express genes that caused neurons to form more connections in the brain.
Plasma from older people, on the other hand, did not help at all, while young adult plasma induced an intermediate effect.
The team believes the key ingredient that makes cord blood so rejuvenating is TIMP2.
When they injected TIMP2 into elderly mice, it largely duplicated the beneficial effects of cord plasma, according to the findings published in the journal Nature.
Co-author Dr Joseph Castellano said: ‘TIMP2’s effects in the brain have been studied a little, but not much and not in ageing.
‘In our study, it mimicked the memory and learning effects we were getting with cord plasma. And it appeared to do that by improving hippocampal function.’
Scientists now hope future trials involving the protein would show a similar effect in reversing the consequences of aging in humans.
Last night Professor Robert Howard, of UCL’s old age psychiatry and psychopathology department, said: ‘This work will stimulate a clear pathway to human clinical trials of what should be a safe and well-tolerated agent.’
Dr Jennifer Wild, a senior research fellow in clinical psychology at Oxford University, said: ‘The results are exciting but I would urge caution when extending the findings to humans ... The study shows that a human protein can reverse cognitive ageing in mice. This does not mean that the protein can cure dementia or cognitive ageing in humans.’ She added that similar studies on mice with ‘dementia-like symptoms’ had ‘not yet translated into cures for humans’.
‘Mimicked the memory’