Conceptual and therapeutic approach to aging will significantly benefit from observing, extending and harnessing our knowledge regarding embryonic development and utilizing our findings throughout our adult life to re-enhance the regenerative potential of the human body. In support of this theory, Thymosin β4 (Tβ4), a 43 amino acid peptide, has been identified as a potential candidate for reversing aging processes and accelerating organ regeneration in the human body.

As humans age, they experience numerous changes in their bodies. Loss of muscle mass, increased levels of body fat, water loss in tissues, and decreased bone density are just a few examples of the various degenerative processes that occur. These changes ultimately result in inadequate function of cells, tissues, and organs.

Aging is considered to be an accumulation of both internal and external damage, eventually leading to inadequate function of the cell, tissue, and organ. The biggest challenge of our era is to understand and successfully intervene with the various molecular pathways responsible for cellular senescence or tissue and organ damage.

Over the last few decades, numerous aging hallmarks were identified as potential therapeutic targets for tissue and organ repair. However, most investigations and analyses focus on this journey from the day of birth, leaving the power and knowledge regarding the most dynamic period of physical development unaccounted for and in the dark.

Thymosin β4 (Tβ) is a small peptide that is expressed in the heart during embryonic development and in adult mammals. Hungarian scientists have discovered that Tβ4 can increase cell migration, endothelial cell proliferation, and capillary formation in vitro. When Tβ4 is systemically injected, it can increase post-ischemic cardiac function in adult mammals, inhibiting myocardial cell death and initiating coronary re-growth. It also activates endogenous vessel and myocardial progenitor cells in the adult heart.

The exciting discovery is that Tβ4 is capable of reminding the adult mammalian heart of its embryonic program, and this regenerative capacity is independent of injury. This means that Tβ4 could potentially reverse cellular damage and accelerate organ regeneration in the human body.

Researchers studied the developmental expression of Tβ4 in mouse embryos and determined its impact in adult animals by systemically injecting the peptide following acute cardiac infarction or with no injury. They found that Tβ4 promotes cardiac cell migration and survival in the developing heart, while in adults, the peptide enhances myocyte survival and improves cardiac function after coronary artery ligation.

Intravenous injections of Tβ4 also alter the morphology of the adult epicardium, and the changes resemble the characteristics of the embryo. Reactivation of the embryonic program became equally reflected by the increased number of cardiac vessels and by the alteration of the gene expression profile typical of the embryonic state. Moreover, researchers discovered Tβ4 is capable of epicardial progenitor activation, and revealed the effect is independent of hypoxic injury.

In conclusion, further discoveries and consequential postnatal administration of developmentally relevant candidate molecules, such as Tβ4, may likely result in reversing aging processes and accelerate organ regeneration in the human body.

Whole article can be read here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2023.109741