By Heidi Ledford – Nature –
Test time has arrived: the first person has been treated in a highly anticipated gene-therapy trial that aims to coax aged cells to take on a younger identity.
The clinical trial is testing an innovative technique that involves turning on three genes that can ‘partially reprogram’ old cells, allowing them to behave as if they were young again. Some scientists argue that partial reprogramming could rejuvenate old organs. But this trial will test the activation of these three genes as an approach for treating disease — in this case, a form of glaucoma, a condition that can cause blindness.
