From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Oct 14 2002 - 13:57:26 MDT
On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, Ross A. Finlayson wrote:
> How far are we from having a cocktail that enables 150 year or
> indefinite lifespans?
I strongly doubt this is going to happen. I'm fairly certain
at this point that 150+ years is going to require gene therapies
that augment or rewrite the genome. I don't believe drug cocktails
are going to cut the mustard.
Fortunately, I'd say such technologies are within our 20-30 year grasp.
> What's the state-of-the-art in life extension? Do telomeres and
> telomere fraying truly represent a limit on the reuse of replicated
> genes?
I'm not sure I understand the question. It seems fairly certain at
this point that telomeres are an "add-on" to the human genomic program
that is one of several anti-cancer strategies our cells use.
> What enzyme enables a protein machine to add the telomere, what
> do you call them, endpoints back on to the segmented aglet-like
> telomeres?
There are a couple of components -- you need the RNA component and
the telomerase enzyme. Sierra Sciences is working on being able to
extend the telomeres in your normal cells (of course this might
increase cancer rates -- so we have to solve that problem as well).
> The leading causes of natural death are failures of the respiratory and
> cardiovascular system, and perhaps cancer.
Heart Disease > Cancer > Respiratory diseases (in terms of causes of death).
> There are many other symptoms of aging. Many aging people have found
> much relief in hormonal replacement therapies.
For women yes, but I don't know if the case is as strong for men.
As we have recently seen -- hormone replacements may entail
increased cancer risks.
> I'm just a layman, but I
> think definitely that the endocrine system is where to start in halting
> symptoms of aging.
The evolutionary biology of aging says its going to involve multiple
systems. Its not going to be just one thing and there isn't going
to be a single magic bullet. We have to tackle and solve the problems
one by one. We understand heart disease pretty well and are getting
a good handle on cancer. I expect a lot of progress in this decade
on many of the other aging-related diseases as well.
Robert
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