Aging & Longevity News and Discussions

[raklian]

[raklian]

I wonder what the news they consider "big" is going to be. Hmm...

[caltrek]

We've Discovered a Subtle Genetic Imbalance That May Drive Aging
by Carly Cassella
December 17, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Scientists have found an extremely subtle twist in the genetics of aging cells, one that seems to make them increasingly less functional as time goes on.

Researchers from Northwestern University have revealed animals like mice, rats, killifish, and even humans show a gradual imbalance of long and short genes in virtually every cell in their body as they age.

The discovery suggests there aren't specific genes that control the aging process. Instead, old age seems to be governed by systems-level changes with complex effects. And this can impact thousands of different genes and their respective proteins.

For an individual gene, however, the changes are so tiny as to be insignificant. That's probably why they've slipped past our notice until now.
"We have been primarily focusing on a small number of genes, thinking that a few genes would explain disease," says Northwestern University data scientist Luís Amaral.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/weve-disc ... ive-aging


caltrek’s comment: This may be good news in that it could result in a better understanding of the aging process. It does underline the complexity of it all. What I call “magic pill” solutions may be very far off, if at all achievable.

What current wisdom seems to suggest, at least to a layman such as myself, is the importance of a balanced diet and plenty of exercise. Fad diets that are highly imbalanced should be avoided. Five-day fasting along the lines suggested in Valter Longo’s The Longevity Diet may also be of benefit.

[raklian]

I wonder what the news they consider "big" is going to be. Hmm...

I guess this is the big news. Basically crowdfund anti-aging projects with cryptocurrencies.

https://longevity.angelprotocol.io/

[wjfox]

Classifying aging as a disease could speed FDA drug approvals

by Amy Baker, Opinion Contributor
12/21/22 7:30 AM ET

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers aging to be a natural process. This makes it difficult to get FDA approval for drugs that seek to slow or reverse the biological process of aging. Instead, drugs intended to target aging must target a disease that often results from the aging process in order to demonstrate efficacy and gain approval.

But there is growing consensus and effort among scientists to convince the FDA that aging itself should be classified as a disease and an appropriate target for drug development.

This could be a major milestone for not just industry, but society. If the FDA is swayed, the resulting regulatory shift could mean approval of drugs or treatments that slow or reverse the aging process generally, before a patient develops disease.

Researchers who view aging as a medical condition aren’t referring only to the inevitable passage of time. Instead, they view aging as a process of deterioration of our structure and function at the cellular level; the hallmark characteristics of which are genomic instability and damage to our DNA.  

And the World Health Organization (WHO) supports this view – WHO describes the process of aging as “… the impact of the accumulation of a wide variety of molecular and cellular damage over time.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/ ... approvals/

[caltrek]

^^^Gee thanks, WJ. I just called attention to this article to my wife. I do such things via email so that she can read attached articles. I felt compelled to title the subject: "I Was Wrong and You Were Right."



Must learn to shed old school thinking about this sort of thing. BTW, her argument was that people really do die from "aging."

Proximate cause versus final cause and all that. It gets complicated.

[weatheriscool]

Scientists uncover a novel cellular mechanism that regulates aging and fertility
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-scientist ... aging.html

Research at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), published today in the journal Nature Aging, reveals a fundamental quality control mechanism that operates in cells to safeguard the integrity and function of the nucleus. By maintaining nuclear homeostasis, this molecular mechanism contributes critically to promote longevity and fertility.

IMBB researchers Dr. Margarita-Elena Papandreou and Dr. Georgios Konstantinidis, headed by Dr. Nektarios Tavernarakis (Professor at the Medical School, University of Crete, and Chairman of the Board at FORTH), discovered that recycling of nuclear and nucleolar components via autophagy delays aging of somatic cells, and sustains the immortality of germ cells, which are required for reproduction.

The nucleus is the central organelle of all eukaryotic cells that contains the genetic material (DNA), which determines cellular identity and function. During aging and in cancer cells, the ultrastructure of the nucleus is dramatically altered. Moreover, progressive and pronounced deterioration of the nuclear architecture is a common and conserved feature of progeria and numerous other disorders associated with aging.

In addition, progeroid syndromes (e.g., Hutchinson–Gilford, Werner, Bloom, and Cockayne syndromes, among others), and aging itself, are accompanied by pronounced enlargement of the nucleolus—the largest well-defined structure within the nucleus—serving as the site for generating components of the ribosome, which is the protein synthesis machine of the cell. Notably, small nucleolar size has been associated with longevity and life-extending interventions. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that bring about these changes have remained obscure. It is also unclear whether such alterations are simply a corollary of the aging process and age-related pathologies, or have a causative role in progeria and senescent decline.

[raklian]

[raklian]

[raklian]

[raklian]

[raklian]

A breakthrough paper, in my opinion. Read the entire thread. It's well worth it.



An TIME article about this paper. https://time.com/6246864/reverse-aging- ... milestone/

Scientists Have Reached a Key Milestone in Learning How to Reverse Aging
By Alice Park

In the Cell paper, Sinclair and his team report that not only can they age mice on an accelerated timeline, but they can also reverse the effects of that aging and restore some of the biological signs of youthfulness to the animals. That reversibility makes a strong case for the fact that the main drivers of aging aren’t mutations to the DNA, but miscues in the epigenetic instructions that somehow go awry. Sinclair has long proposed that aging is the result of losing critical instructions that cells need to continue functioning, in what he calls the Information Theory of Aging. “Underlying aging is information that is lost in cells, not just the accumulation of damage,” he says. “That’s a paradigm shift in how to think about aging. “

Just wow. Now I'm starting to think it will be definitely possible to reverse at least some aspects of aging in our lifetime.

[weatheriscool]

I wish one of these scientist would do the right thing and start human trials on themselves. The benefits if they can pull off would probably be will worth it.

[raklian]

[raklian]

[wjfox]

World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies aged 118

17 minutes ago

The world's oldest living person, French nun Lucile Randon, has died aged 118.

Ms Randon - who assumed the name Sister Andre when she took holy orders in 1944 - died in her sleep at her nursing home in Toulon, France.

Born in 1904 in southern France, she lived through two world wars and dedicated much of her life to Catholicism.

"Only the good Lord knows" the secret of her longevity, she told reporters.

Born when Tour de France has only been staged once, Sister André also saw 27 French heads of state.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64314673

[raklian]

Want to know your epigenetic age? Sign up!

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Study Finds Hypertension Drug Could be Repurposed to Delay Aging
January 23, 2023

Introduction:

(Medical Xpress) Researchers have found that the drug rilmenidine can extend lifespan and slow aging.

Published in Aging Cell, the findings show that animals treated with rilmenidine, currently used to treat hypertension, at young and older ages increases lifespan and improves health markers, mimicking the effects of caloric restriction.

They also demonstrate that the healthspan and lifespan benefits of rilmenidine treatment in the roundworm C. elegans are mediated by the I1-imidazoline receptor nish-1, identifying this receptor as a potential longevity target.

Unlike other drugs previously studied for this purpose by the researchers, the widely-prescribed, oral antihypertensive rilmenidine has potential for future translatability to humans as side-effects are rare and non-severe.

To date, a caloric restriction diet has been considered the most robust anti-aging intervention, promoting longevity across species. However, studies of caloric restriction in humans have had mixed results and side effects, meaning finding medications like rilmenidine that can mimic the benefits of caloric restriction is the most reasonable anti-aging strategy.

Read more here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01 ... ging.html

[weatheriscool]

Anti-ageing gene injections could rewind your heart age by 10 years
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/0 ... -10-years/
Healthy mutant gene in super-fit people can reverse the decline of heart performance in the elderly, according to a study
By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor 23 January 2023 • 5:10pm

Injecting the genes of so-called “super-agers” into failing heart cells regenerates them, making them function as if they were 10 years younger, scientists have found.

The discovery opens the door for heart failure to be treated or prevented by reprogramming damaged cells.

Researchers have long suspected that people who live beyond 100 years old must have a unique genetic code that protects them from the ravages of old age.

Previous research showed that carriers of a variant of the BP1FB4 gene enjoy long lifespans and fewer heart problems.

In new experiments, scientists from the University of Bristol inserted the gene variant into a harmless virus and then injected it into elderly mice. They found that it rewound the heart’s biological clock by the human equivalent of 10 years.