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An indolent gene found in adults has been found to help in the prevention of the essential basis for an individual to have heart attacks and strokes, could also be a source in the postponement of aging, a recent research has concluded.

According to Medical Xpress, the researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine are the first to delved in proving the Oct4 plays an important role in the course of the development of atherosclerotic plaques inside blood vessels as the ripping apart of these blood vessel deposits triggers a lot of heart attacks and strokes.

Prior to this finding, the gene was limited to being reduced in activity after embryonic development.

Lead author Gary K. Owens, Ph.D., director of UVA's Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center mentioned that:

"Finding a way to augment the expression of this gene in adult cells may have profound implications for promoting health and possibly reversing some of the detrimental effects of aging. We think this is just the tip of the iceberg for controlling plasticity of somatic cells, and this could impact many human diseases and the field of regenerative medicine. Who knows, this may end up being the 'fountain-of-youth gene,' a way to revitalize old and worn-out cells. Only time will tell."

It was brought into being that Oct4 reins the actions of smooth muscle cells into forming a protective fibrous "caps" inside the plaques. These "caps" become an outer shell that hinders the plaques in its action of breaking up.

These findings could in the future play a pivotal role in the development of possible therapeutic drugs and agents that use the Oct4 in reducing the occurrences of heart attacks and strokes.

But what was startling about the research is how Owens and his colleagues found out of Oct4's use for regenerative medicine as the gene are activated in other somatic cells - cells which play a vital role in the healing of wounds.

"We think this is just the tip of the iceberg for controlling plasticity of somatic cells, and this could impact many human diseases and the field of regenerative medicine. Who knows, this may end up being the 'fountain-of-youth gene,' a way to revitalize old and worn-out cells. Only time will tell," Owens again explained.