Exosomes derived from hTERT-immortalized cells delay cellular senescence of human fibroblasts

• Published in: Experimental Gerontology
• Main Authors: Yang Liu, Zhaoying Sheng, Linlin Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2024-09-01
• Subjects: Cellular senescence; Exosome; hTERT; Telomere length
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556524001505

hTERT gene therapies hold significant promise for treating age-related diseases. However, further research is required to address the challenges of delivery and ethical considerations. We hypothesized that exosomes derived from hTERT-immortalized cells could function similarly to hTERT gene therapies by maintaining telomere length and attenuating cellular senescence biomarkers. In this study, we overexpressed the hTERT gene in Human Foreskin Fibroblast-1 cells (HFF cells) to produce hTERT-immortalized HFF cells (hT-HFF cells). We then used exosomes derived from these hT-HFF cells to treat human fibroblasts, HFF cells. Our results demonstrated that these exosomes effectively attenuated biomarkers of cellular senescence in HFF cells. Furthermore, analysis revealed that hTERT mRNA was indeed packaged into the exosomes from hT-HFF cells. This mRNA was capable of elongating telomeres and delaying cellular senescence in HFF cells. Therefore, exosomes from hT-HFF cells show potential as a treatment for age-related diseases.