People not only don’t want to die, they don’t even want to grow old. Eternal youth has long been the theme of many fairy tales and myths. But will it become reality?
In the film “Death Becomes Her” the heroines Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, having drunk the elixir of youth, gained immortality. Then, in the 1990s, eternal life seemed like something out of the realm of fantasy. Today, the largest medical and technological corporations are conducting research in this direction, and startups offering “immortal” developments enter the market with enviable regularity and even receive serious funding.
Theories and Practices
The dream of eternal beauty and youth exists as long as humanity lives. Cleopatra used the milk of donkeys for ablutions. Count Dracula and the Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Báthory were engaged in the search for longevity, taking, as the rumor goes, baths from the blood of young virgins. In the secret laboratories of Nazi Germany, they were looking for an opportunity to prolong the youth and strength of the chosen Aryans, conducting experiments on living people.
Modern man has not changed. He also wants youth and beauty.
“There are about a hundred theories of aging,” says Olga Tkacheva, chief geriatrician of the Ministry of Health of our country, president of the Russian Association of Gerontologists and Geriatricians. — Globally, there are two opposing positions. The first says that aging is a programmed, inevitable process. The second is that it is a preventable disease and “live forever.” But, most likely, the aging process is somehow predetermined: so far, we have not seen eternally living people. At some point, our adaptive system stops correcting the mistakes and breakdowns that occur in cells throughout life. If schematically: errors accumulate – aging occurs.
Health standards in the era of global digitalization are changing. Old age ceases to be something fatal, and youth turns into a very real parameter that can be returned, recreated, supported. “Literally, the process of rejuvenation is the cleansing of the body from old cells. Our cells age and at some point stop dividing. Usually, the immune system is responsible for the disposal of aged cells, but with age this process becomes less effective, ”says Danila Kuzin, a plastic and maxillofacial surgeon.
One of the many theories of aging is the accumulation of senescent cells. These are old cells that accumulate and destroy the functions of organs and systems. It would be logical to assume that such cells should be destroyed. This logic is guided by the specialists of the American company Unity Biotechnology. They developed a method to selectively eliminate senescent cells using senolytic drugs. According to the researchers, this technique prevents age-related diseases and literally turns back the clock, because the tissues return to their healthy state.
This and a number of other medical companies (for example, the “daughter” of Google – Calico) use advances in the field of molecular biology to increase life expectancy, and more specifically, the period of time when a person is healthy. So far, Unity Biotechnology is testing its drug on people with osteoarthritis. However company experts are confident that senolytics can improve the condition of the heart, lungs, eyes, and even restore some cognitive functions. In general, to prevent or correct all those things that we are accustomed to perceive as processes that inevitably accompany aging.
According to Olga Tkacheva, both the theory of aging itself, based on the accumulation of senescent cells, and the development of senolytic drugs look quite promising directions.
Out of years
Peter Diamandis, founder of the X-Prize Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University, is confident that in just 30-50 years, a hundred-year-old person will feel like 60, and people will live up to 150 years. The X-Prize Foundation supports breakthrough technologies that aim to improve the lives of all mankind. Prizes are awarded in several categories, including projects aimed at solving the problem of aging. In addition to the foundation and Singularity University, Diamandis founded Human Longevity Inc. As part of the Health Nucleus program, doctors completely examine the patient’s genome and perform MRI of the entire body. With the help of machine learning, experts analyze all the data received and find out what happens to the body of a particular person. This allows, according to the researchers, to detect health problems at an early stage.
However, demographers, according to Professor Tkacheva, consider Diamandis’ forecasts too optimistic. According to their calculations, by the end of the 90st century, the expected average life expectancy of a person in most of the planet will be 100-XNUMX years. “Among the many factors underlying longevity is genetics,” notes Olga Tkacheva. – The longer a person lives, the greater the genetic background of his longevity. If a person lives to 90-95 years, as a rule, this is not accidental. So there is heredity and some kind of genetic basis.”
Scientists have indeed discovered more than 500 genes that are associated with life expectancy. In the future, researchers will be able to synthesize one or more of these genes and integrate them into the human genome using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The chief geriatrician of the Ministry of Health of our country notes that theoretically such a task is feasible, but one should not forget about gene expression:
“A person may have a gene for longevity, but it may not be activated. As, for example, he may have a gene for an age-associated disease that can “turn on”. Finding ways to influence gene expression is another promising avenue for researchers.”
According to Peter Diamandis, procedures using stem cells will be carried out everywhere in the near future. First of all, they are necessary for the treatment of degenerative and autoimmune diseases. However, in the future, whole organs will be grown from stem cells. The futurologist suggests taking these cells from the placenta, which is thrown out after childbirth in 99,9% of cases. He insists that stem cells from one placenta can be enough for hundreds, if not thousands of people.
And you will be cured
The idea of using stem cells is not new. As well as the belief that the blood of youths can rejuvenate. In ancient Rome, for example, after the end of the gladiator fights, the old men rushed into the arena to rub the body with the blood of the dead young fighters. And in 2016, a startup named Ambrosia appeared on the market, whose founder Jesse Karmazin offered wealthy businessmen – mainly from Silicon Valley – to transfuse the plasma of young people. Each such procedure cost $8. In the spring of 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that the growing business of selling anti-aging plasma has no clinically proven benefit. Just a few hours later, an Ambrosia representative announced that the company would cease operations.
New startups appear on the market almost weekly, developing innovative methods to combat aging. For example, the Celularity project raised about $250 million in investments to research the effect of stem cells on rejuvenation. And British investor Jim Mellon promises that the medical developments of his startup Juvenescence will help everyone overcome the 120-year milestone. According to him, this will be possible thanks to drugs that prevent many age-related diseases – neurodegenerative, heart, joint, etc. And whatever the fate of Ambrosia, research into the effects of “young” blood will certainly continue. For example, Stanford University (USA) is conducting clinical trials in which scientists are trying to find out whether injections of children’s plasma can help patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Two directions of research can now be noted, says Olga Tkacheva.
- The first is the search for a panel of aging biomarkers. To find a “pill against old age”, it is necessary to conduct a clinical trial on a person. You need to watch him and understand how long he lives and how quickly he ages. This research is a lifetime, and it is very difficult to imagine the implementation of such projects. To do this, a search is underway for panels of aging biomarkers – that is, surrogate criteria by which it becomes clear why one person ages quickly and the other slowly.
- The second direction of research is directly the search for drugs. In particular, scientists are looking at whether drugs indicated for certain diseases have an anti-aging effect. It turned out, for example, that some anti-inflammatory drugs and medications that reduce blood pressure and control blood cholesterol levels actually slow down aging.
old age pill
According to Orbis Research, By 2021, the global market for anti-aging products and services will exceed $330 billion. Peter Diamandis argues that increasing active life expectancy by even 20-30 years will have a huge impact on this market. However, it is already developing at an unprecedented speed, constantly offering the consumer new developments. For example, the IBM Watson supercomputer uses deep machine learning and neural networks to find ways to treat cancer and other diseases, including age-related ones. And digital models of human organs in a virtual projection fully convey the appearance of a real organ. This helps surgeons hone their new skills, consolidate the accuracy and complexity of the procedure, and minimize the chance of error.
The quality of life of older people is deteriorating not only because of neurodegenerative diseases, diseases of the heart and joints. Most sooner or later face problems with vision.
“With age, the natural biological lens of the eye – the lens – begins to not only thicken, but also become cloudy. Vision deteriorates to the point of blindness. This is a cataract. A decade ago, the operation to replace the lens was difficult, traumatic and had a number of side effects. Today, instead of surgically removing the entire biological lens through a large incision, it is crushed with an ultrasonic needle to an emulsion, then removed in a liquid state through a micro-puncture. Through it, a soft artificial lens is introduced in a folded state, which will straighten out and take the desired position. After the operation, many people see better than when they were young,” says Professor Tatiana Shilova, head physician of Dr. Shilova’s Clinic.
And although a universal “pill against old age” has not yet been found, we should not despair. The latest technologies, thanks to early and accurate diagnostics, already today make it possible to prolong life and make it more comfortable.
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