Aging partially reversed in mice


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Could mice in a Boston laboratory hold the key to people living longer? Scientists think it's possible. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute say for the first time, they have partially reversed the aging process in mice. In these mice, brain disease was reversed, the sense of smell was restored; the mice even got their fertility back. The study appears in the journal Nature.

?What we have learned is that there?s a point of return for even aged tissues,? said Dr. Ronald DePinho, director of Dana-Farber?s Belfer Institute of Applied Cancer Science and professor of medicine and genetics at Harvard Medical School.

But before you head to Boston to see if you can get in on the action, there are a few things worth noting. First, these weren't your typical mice. For the experiment, scientists tweaked the telomerase gene in mice, which maintains the protective caps called telomeres that shield the end of chromosomes. As we age, that tip degenerates, opening the door for all kinds of hallmarks of aging, such as gray hair, organ degeneration, cognitive decline and infertility.

Scientists can?t tweak your DNA ? it wouldn?t be medically safe or ethical. But DePinho hopes his work with mice will help medical science develop drugs that will help people age more healthfully.

?We?re not in the business of genetically engineering humans,? he said. ?I think we would love to develop small molecule drugs that would be able to re-activate the telemorase enzyme prior to getting into all these degenerative states.?

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Scientists can?t tweak your DNA ? it wouldn?t be medically safe or ethical. But DePinho hopes his work with mice will help medical science develop drugs that will help people age more healthfully.

Hah, bet you we can. As for the risks and ethical implications, people do worse to themselves and others. That we find it morally reprehensible to pursue such research with the goal of saving and improving lives when we gladly stockpile thousands of nuclear weapons to shoot at one another is both stupifying and astounding.

I wonder if this could also be used to help victims of accidents who lose mental functions, for example, not only old people. My hat's off to them though, this is a beautiful discovery.

Telomerase reactivation can rescue somatic cells that have replicated to the point of experiencing chromosome end erosion, and since cell proliferation and differentiation power wound healing and general maintenance, it mostly helps old people that are lacking in those areas. I don't think it would help much with regenerating neuronal systems that have become damaged in younger people, since those issues don't typically arise from the end-replication problem. The cells are perfectly capable of dividing or repairing damage, but the message to do so isn't getting sent, or the cells aren't getting the instructions necessary for them to rebuild what has been destroyed.

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?We?re not in the business of genetically engineering humans,? he said. ?I think we would love to develop small molecule drugs that would be able to re-activate the telemorase enzyme prior to getting into all these degenerative states.?

I seriously wouldn't mind being genetically modified to reduce or eliminate aging. I don't see why just because it involves tampering with DNA it's automatically an ethical problem.
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isnt this how the T virus started in resident evil?

Although it then proceeded to mutate the individual and reanimate dead people, but the original design regenerated cells in the human body.

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Yes, but think about it: We can make the most brilliant minds live longer. We can make huge strides in technology.

*cough*

Soooo... it take it that a life's worth can be measured by its 'importance'?

@Topic:

IMHO, this sounds great. I'll be as honest to go ahead and say openly that yes, I wouldn't mind aging both health-wise but also cosmetic-wise slower or if it were possible not at all.

Of cause we will still die a -hopefully natural- death, but why damn the understandable wish to look good longer?

Seriously, as Relativity_17 has pointed out, talking about ethics is just laughable if you take into account what we're already doing.

Of cause current 'sins' are not a relativation or excuse for future 'sins', but this ain't one.

Glassed Silver:win

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Scientists can?t tweak your DNA ? it wouldn?t be medically safe or ethical. But DePinho hopes his work with mice will help medical science develop drugs that will help people age more healthfully.

I know tons of people who would give this a try. In the future I believe people will live a long time, thanks in part to studies like this.

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