Researchers from Bar-Ilan University, the US National Institute on Aging, and Tel Aviv University say they have reversed key signs of age-related decline in the livers of older mice by boosting levels of SIRT6, known as the longevity protein.

The peer-reviewed findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that biological changes associated with growing older might not be a one-way street, after all.

Using advanced tools to map out DNA architecture and measure real-time gene activity, the research team studied older mice that had been given additional SIRT6, which silences genes associated with inflammation and aging.

The scientists found they could “rewind” age-related changes in cells within the liver tissue, said research supervisor Prof. Haim Cohen, director of the Sagol Healthy Human Longevity Center at Bar-Ilan University.

To put it simply, Cohen said, “We took an old liver and restored its DNA organization toward a much younger state.”

Doctoral students Ron Nagar and Zecharia Schwartz led the study, which, said Cohem, showed that by upping SIRT6, “we may eventually be able to preserve tissue function, reduce inflammation, and improve health during aging.”

The importance of SIRT6

Cohen’s lab explores the basic biological mechanisms underlying the aging process and how to delay and prevent aging-associated diseases.

In a 2012 breakthrough, Cohen was the first researcher in the world to increase life expectancy in mice by augmenting their SIRT6 levels.

SIRT6, which is found primarily in the cell nucleus, helps the body repair DNA, control metabolic processes, and regulate aging.

Reversing age-related changes

SIRT6 can also influence chromatin, a........

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