We may have an explanation for the young blood phenomenon

Scientists have long since demonstrated that injecting aged mice with the blood of their juniors has beneficial effects on the hallmarks of getting old. What’s never been clear is precisely why.

As STAT’s Andrew Joseph reports, a group of researchers has come up with a possible explanation. They homed in on a protein called VCAM1, which is associated with cognitive decline, and set out to shut it down in older mice.

And when they did — whether by deleting the gene responsible for VCAM1 or attacking it with an antibody — they saw improvements in neural activity, reduced inflammation, and better performance on cognitive tests.

That means VCAM1 could be key to the young blood phenomenon, and it could make the protein a target for future therapeutics.

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