Rejuvenation Technologies Inc, spun out of research conducted at Stanford University, uses mRNA to extend telomeres, which is a major factor for disease and aging. The firm's solution extends telomeres - protective caps of DNA that shorten over time, leading to disease and aging - through a messenger RNA encoding telomerase (TERT mRNA). One does of the vaccine can reverse telomere shortening up to 10 years. Controlling all related factors, people with longer telomeres live longer than those with shorter telomeres, and it has been widely accepted that enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) extends telomeres, however the firm's innovation is the delivery system of nucleoside-modified TERT mRNA. This technology has the potential to extend life expectancy and decrease diseases and aging.
