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Scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology in the Korean city of Daegu found the substance that can reverse the aging process. This is the website of EurekAlert!.
It is known that one of the causes of cellular aging is the degradation of lysosomes. In these organelles there is a splitting of biopolymers (DNA and proteins) that allows cells to remove damaged components such as defective mitochondria. Otherwise, the latter accumulate, which eventually leads to disruption of metabolism.
Protein is ATM or serine/treoninove protein kinase attaches a phosphate group to the enzyme called vacuolar ATP-Asa, the result is reduced activity of lysosomes. The research team conducted experiments with the cell culture and found that the compound KU-60019 inhibits ATM, reduces the level of phosphorylation and restores the function of aging cells.
The researchers plan to test the efficacy of compounds in animal models — organisms that grow old quickly because made to their DNA modifications. Thus the researchers want to determine life expectancy for people who might take this drug.