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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Scientist discovers 'biological clock' that may further explain aging The Fountain of Youth is still out there -- somewhere -- many of us hope. And scientists say they now have a new guide in the quest. A study published in the medical journal Genome Biology explains that all humans have a biological clock that measures the age of tissues. The find may help scientists with cancer and stem cell research as well as offer clues on how to slow the aging process. According to a officials at UCLA, where the study's author Dr. Steve Horvath teaches genetics, the study found that some human tissue ages more quickly than others. While earlier biological clocks have been linked to saliva, hormones and telomeres, the new research is the first to result in the development of an age-predictive tool that uses a previously unknown time-keeping mechanism in the body to accurately gauge the age of diverse human organs, tissues and cell types. While working on the new tool, Horvath and his team discovered that "some parts of the anatomy, like a woman's breast tissue, age faster than the rest of the body," officials said. In other words, not all tissues' biological age matches its chronological age. From the UCLA statement:: "Healthy breast tissue is about two to three years older than the rest of a woman's body," he said. "If a woman has breast cancer, the healthy tissue next to the tumor is an average of 12 years older than the rest of her body." The results may explain why breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Given that the clock ranked tumor tissue an average of 36 years older than healthy tissue, it could also explain why age is a major risk factor for many cancers in both genders. Forbes explains that Horvath and his team "identified 353 DNA markers from 51 types of cells and tissue (including heart, lungs, brain, liver, cartilage and kidney) that change throughout our lifetimes from before birth through old age." Yahoo News spoke with Horvath about the significance of his findings."The big picture is really that people who study aging were really limited in that they weren't able to accurately measure age. It has been a longstanding hope to develop aging clocks that allow us to access the age of a cell or a tissue. The purpose being to learn why we age and what can be done against it." Horvath said that his isn't the first aging clock, but his measures chemical changes to the DNA, which has made his epigenitic clock "far more accurate" that previous clocks. "If we're really lucky, it will allow us to develop treatments against aging," Horvath told Yahoo News. However, Horvath is cautious. "I have not yet shown is that this epigenitic clock measures a process that causes aging. That's really the most pressing question." Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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