Genflow Biosciences PLC (LSE:GENF) said it has begun a research collaboration with the University of Rochester's Aging Research Center in the US, which will initially assess the potential of Sirtuin-6, or SIRT6, in reversing the ageing process in liver tissue.
This is the first step towards a “true rejuvenation gene therapy across a range of tissues”, investors were told.
SIRT6 is seen as the ‘master regulator of healthy ageing’.
The work at Rochester will be spearheaded by Dr Vera Gorbunova, a world leader in the areas of DNA repair and the ageing process.
She has received awards from The Ellison Medical Foundation, The Glenn Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research and the National Institute of Health.
"We are privileged to be collaborating with the Rochester Aging Research Center to accelerate and enable bringing a novel gene therapy for not only improving healthy ageing to the clinic and patients but also offering the opportunity of epigenetic tissue rejuvenation,” said Dr Eric Leire, Genflow’s founder and chief executive.
He said preliminary data from the Gorbunova and Seluanov Laboratory at the University of Rochester provided a “promising indication of the centenarian SIRT6 gene mutation's significant capabilities in the longevity field”.
"We now have the opportunity to demonstrate that SIRT6 can go beyond halting or stopping the ageing process but can also reverse it,” Leire went on.
“In effect, we seek to demonstrate that you can take an old liver and make it young again - this is the essence of the epigenetic tissue rejuvenation we are exploring, and it has the potential to be the basis of a revolutionary gene therapy."