Inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme which is supposed to slow down the metabolic clock, has enabled researchers boost the lifespan of mouse by 24% with a single treatment.
Read more @ SciTechDaily
Telomerase Gene Therapy Extends Mouse Lifespan by 24%
Published December 1, 2012 blogs , science , technology 4 CommentsTags: anti-aging, blogs, chromosomes, gene therapy, genetics, health, lifespan, popular, science, SciTechDaily, technology, telomerase
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Sure, but what about increased cancer risk? I mean, you are messing up with apoptosis regulation…
The results come from a cancer research group, and at least in mouse models, there seemed to be no increased risk of cancer, but how this will translate into humans is another question.
I was just thinking about when they discovered years ago that suppressed telomerase activity decreases cancer, thus it sounds a little bit controversial to me. I mean, if the cell lives longer by counter-acting the telomere-shortening it will also accumulate all sorts of mutations, which will eventually lead to cancer. Maybe this is not such a big problem in mice, because their average life span is so much shorter than for humans.
That’s probably one of the reasons why telomerase-based therapies were abandoned in the past.