Harvard Scientists Find Gene that Helps Repair Skin, Bone

Harvard Medical School scientists have isolated a gene that could help accelerate tissue repair.

Several media reports have called the gene 'Lin28a' the fountain-of-youth gene or even the wolverine-healing gene for its ability to help cells proliferate. The latest research could revolutionize the way injuries, cancers and other diseases are treated.

The latest study shows that Lin28a is very active in early stages of life, but becomes dormant with time, which might explain why adults take longer to recover from an injury than the young.

"It sounds like science fiction, but Lin28a could be part of a healing cocktail that gives adults the superior tissue repair seen in juvenile animals," said senior study author George Daley of Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Previous research by UC San Diego scientists had found that the protein Lin28a is associated with tissue regeneration.

In the present study, Daley and team noticed that genetically altered mice had accelerated skin and growth and were even re-growing lost digits. These mice were designed to carry active Lin28a. Although the scientists were aware of the gene's roles in tissue regeneration, the results surprised them.

"We were surprised that what was previously believed to be a mundane cellular 'housekeeping' function would be so important for tissue repair," says study author Shyh-Chang Ng of Harvard Medical School.

In one of the experiments, researchers gave normal mice drugs that activated the pathway usually regulated by Lin28a. They found that these mice, too, had a higher rate of tissue repair. According to Scientific American, the protein coded by the Lin28a gene increases metabolism, tricking the body into feeling young.

"One of our experiments showed that bypassing Lin28a and directly activating mitochondrial metabolism with a small-molecule compound also had the effect of enhancing wound healing, suggesting that it could be possible to use drugs to promote tissue repair in humans."

The gene, however, won't help grow lost hands or legs. Researchers also found that treatments based on the current research won't help repair heart or other organs.

The study is published in the journal Cell.