Scientists Rejuvenate Cells by More Than 60 Years for the First Time

The researchers took precursor cells of red blood cells from an 80-year-old donor and used direct reprogramming to convert them into neural stem cells, which are precursors of nervous tissue. During the process, the cells’ epigenetic “age markers” were reset to levels characteristic of someone younger than 20.

A key feature of the approach is that the process occurs gradually. “In our approach, rejuvenation occurred smoothly and could be tracked over more than 100 days,” said study leader Professor Oliver Brüstle. In approximately 50 days, the cells’ “molecular age” decreased by six decades, while their epigenetic clocks were reset over several weeks.

Why does this matter? Age is the main risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The prospect of obtaining “young” nerve cells from an older patient’s blood without first converting them into pluripotent cells — a state that can carry potential risks — could offer a promising way to study these diseases and, eventually, develop cell therapies.

The authors emphasize that this is laboratory research, not an established method for “reversing aging” in the body. The process resets the biological age of individual cells in a laboratory dish; applying this approach to an entire human remains a separate and unresolved challenge.

Nevertheless, the ability to rejuvenate cells in a controlled and measurable way is significant for aging research. It suggests that a cell’s biological age is not necessarily fixed, but rather a state that may, in principle, be manipulated.