Protein partly restores stem cell function in older human airway cells
Lab experiments compared nasal cells from adults over 70 and children under 10, finding weaker renewal capacity and lower levels of a regulatory protein in older donors.
Stake: Cancer Research UK funded the study.
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Human nasal basal cells, stem cells that help renew the airway lining, functioned less well in lab tests when taken from adults over 70 than from children under 10. The researchers combined comparisons between donors with experiments that altered levels of p63, a protein that regulates gene activity.
Older donors’ cells formed colonies and organoids—three-dimensional cell cultures—less readily and could be grown for less time. They also had lower p63 protein levels. Increasing p63 in older donors’ cells partly restored their stem cell functions. Reducing production of the protein in children’s cells impaired these functions. However, increasing p63 alone did not rejuvenate the older cells.
Why it matters
The authors suggest that understanding why p63 declines during airway aging may reveal targets to support healthy aging and reduce the burden of chronic lung disease.
Caveats
The functional tests used cells grown in the lab, not tests of airway repair or lung disease in people. This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
- TP63
- Stem cell maintenance
- Colony and organoid formation potential
- Culture longevity
- TP63 protein expression
- Humans
The paper
University College London
bioRxiv, Jul 23, 2026, Open access, CC BY-NC, Preprint, not peer-reviewed
