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NewsScientists at Harvard's Wyss Institute have identified a gene called SRSF1 that can reverse multiple hallmarks of aging in cells while keeping their identity intact. Unlike the Yamanaka factors, SRSF1 doesn't raise cancer risks. In aged mice, delivering the gene extended median lifespan by 14%, pointing to a promising new path for anti-aging gene therapy.
Reversing aging without losing what makes a cell a cell has long been one of biology's trickiest puzzles. Now, researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute think they've found a promising piece of that puzzle: a gene called SRSF1. Using a novel machine learning-based "transcriptomic age predictor" trained on gene expression profiles from human skin cells, the team screened a library of genes to find ones that could shift old cells toward a more youthful state — without erasing their specialized identity.
SRSF1, which encodes an RNA processing factor, reversed several hallmarks of aging — including cellular senescence, chronic inflammation ("inflammaging"), and protein imbalance — while leaving fibroblast cells looking and functioning exactly as they should. Crucially, it didn't trigger the pluripotency programs that make Yamanaka factors a cancer risk. The findings are published in Nature Aging.
By the Numbers
Why it matters: If SRSF1's effects can be safely harnessed in humans, it could open the door to organ- or tissue-specific gene therapies that slow aging — without the risks tied to current reprogramming methods.
