Cellular reprogramming is now hailed by its supporters as the most promising scientific approach to improving human healthspans and lifespans. Proponents claim it has the potential to reshape how — and whether — we grow old. And later this year, a biotech company called Life Biosciences expects to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration to get approval for the first human trial of a version of the technique, according to Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, the company’s chief scientific officer.
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In an ambitious study from Stanford University published in March 2024, scientists used partial reprogramming either throughout the bodies of old mice or only inside their brains, hoping in both cases to improve brain health.
But the full-body experiment resulted in extra inflammation in the animals’ brains, for unknown reasons, and few beneficial changes in neurons. The more-targeted attempt, with reprogramming confined to the animals’ brains, led to an increase in newborn neurons, but also an uptick in brain inflammation, which increases risks for neurodegeneration.
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