Yasmina Kattou, edited by Loane Nader // photo credit: Franco Banfi / Biosphoto / Biosphoto via AFP 13:29 pm, May 08, 2023

A secret of youth may have been discovered by CNRS researchers after a study resulting from analyses of small zebrafish. These marine animals would share with us 70% of their genes, which would have allowed scientists to find a cure for aging, or even certain neurodegenerative diseases.

Everyone has dreamed at least once of obtaining eternal life. We may be on the right track thanks to the discovery of a handful of CNRS researchers who have looked at the 70% of genes we share with small zebrafish. The goal of the scientists is to seek to slow down the process of shortening the chromosomes present in the intestine, telomeres more precisely. These cells are located at the ends of our chromosomes and shrink throughout life, each time they regenerate.

And it is the enzyme telomerase that lengthens the tips of chromosomes and has thus been injected into the intestines of zebrafish. Miguel Godinho Ferreira of the Nice-based Institute for Research on Cancer and Ageing describes the study's remarkable findings. "With telomerase, only on the intestine, we managed to recover the aging of the latter, and to our surprise, everything else in the body became younger," he explains.

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Countering cancer or neurodegenerative diseases

Thanks to these experiments, the team of researchers also "managed to increase the survival of these fish by 40%." In addition, fish that were sterile have become fertile again, which is a potentially revolutionary discovery for humans. It opens up prospects for countering pathologies associated with telomere shrinkage, such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases.