Is The Fountain Of Youth In Mammary Glands? Scientists Uncover Youthful Tissue In Aged Mice

It looks like Juan Ponce de León had it all wrong. The legendary Spanish explorer was the first to set eyes on Florida and a "magical" source of water that he alleged reversed aging and sickness. But is there really a "fountain of youth" out there somewhere? According to cancer researchers, it might just be in the mammary glands of genetically modified mice.

Lead study author Professor Rama Khokha found that when two factors that control tissue development are removed, you can actually avoid the impact of aging.

Researchers referred to metalloproteinases or TIMPs as as "tissue inhibitors" that are trying to reign in and direct the contractors. When the architect and the contractors don't communicate well, as they put it, they fall down and the tissue can result in cancer.

To understand how metalloproteinases and TIMPs interact, researchers breed mice with one or more of the four different types of TIMPS removed. They examine the different combinations and discovered that when TIMP1 and TIMP3 were removed, breast tissue remained youthful even in aged mice.

Unlike normal aging tissue that loses its ability to develop and repair quickly, researchers found that TIMP1 and TIMP3 helped architects remain functional throughout the lifetime of mice.

"Normally you would see these pools of stem cells, which reach their peak at six months in the mice, start to decline. As a result, the mammary glands start to degenerate, which increases the risk of breast cancer occurring," explained Khokha, in a news release. "However, we found that in these particular mice, the stem cells remained consistently high when we measured them at every stage of life."

Researchers also noted that despite large number of stem cells, there was no increased risk of cancer.

"It's generally assumed that the presence of a large number of stem cells can lead to an increased cancer risk," she added. "However, we found these mice had no greater predisposition to cancer."

Now, they are looking to the future to determine why this might be happening. New studies may help determine how altered tissue remodeling could prevent cancer development or potentially lead to new therapeutic treatment for some patients.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Nature Cell Biology.

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