The Era of Anti-Aging Technology
By Linda Hepler
Woody Allen once remarked: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Of course that’s impossible. Even the thought of living 50 years or more beyond our current life expectancy of 78 seems like one of those surreal topics best posed over a glass of red wine after a great meal. But in reality it’s a concept that may be within our reach, and sooner than we think. Current anti-aging research has begun to unravel the mystery of how our bodies age and why we die. This knowledge will certainly be followed by the ability to alter the rate at which we age, eventually extending average lifespan to 120 years, 150 years — or beyond.
Some of the more important areas in anti-aging research include:
Gene Therapy
An approximate 25,000 genes carry the DNA blueprints that orchestrate the action of various proteins, cells, and organs within the human body. Many age-related diseases, like diabetes type 2, Alzheimer’s, and various forms of cancer are thought to result from changes in the DNA structure caused by a complex combination of environmental factors and spontaneous cell division, resulting in mutations of one or more of our genes. Those who elude such diseases may carry one or more types of protective “longevity” genes. Gene therapy involves overriding or repairing gene mutations, possibly even transplanting various types of longevity genes into the body or modifying the genes with medications to protect people against age-related disease.
One example of how genetic therapy might work to slow the aging process is in calorie restriction. In both animal and human studies, severely restricting the diet (about 890 calories per day for humans) appears to slow down the aging process in a number of ways, among them turning on certain anti-aging genes that lower the rate of DNA damage. But because such strict dietary control is not feasible for most people, a medication may be developed to mimic the anti-aging effects of calorie restriction.
Stem Cell Research
Stem cells are immature cells that have the potential to develop into a number of specialized types, such as muscle or organ cells, blood cells, or brain cells. Stem cells are harvested from human placentas or embryos (eggs given with informed consent to be fertilized in the lab) or from organs or tissues in the adult body.
Theoretically, stem cells would be used to repair such things within the body as skin damaged by the sun, spinal-cord tissue damaged by disease or injury, heart muscle damaged by lack of oxygen following a heart attack. Stem cells could potentially be used to replace entire organs that have given out in the aging process.
Nanomedicine
Imagine a tiny machine, too small even to be seen by a microscope, that could crawl along the walls of your arteries, removing artery-narrowing plaque, repairing DNA damage on your genes, or destroying cancer cells at their earliest stage. Some scientists believe such devices to be within 10 years of development. These tiny “nanorobots” would be able to intervene at the molecular level to control the human biological system and prevent or cure age-related disease.
Telomerase-Based Treatments
Telomerase is an enzyme that is believed to overcome cellular aging by extending the number of times a cell can divide. Human cells are constantly replicating themselves by division, but each cell has only a limited number of divisions possible before it dies, a factor in the body’s aging and eventual death. The limited capacity for cellular division is thought to be protective in part; because the more divisions a cell makes the more apt it is to incur DNA mutations that may lead to cancerous changes.
All cells contain telomerase, but cells that grow rapidly – such as fetal cells, germ cells (those cells that become sperm and egg), and tumor cells – are able to “switch on” this enzyme activity in order to allow an increased amount of cell divisions. Further research into the mechanisms of how telomerase is switched on and off by such cells will likely be a key to helping scientists better understand the aging process, and it may also be of great value in developing new cancer treatments.
These and other breakthroughs in anti-aging research hold great promise for the future. But as appealing as it may be to envision a longer and healthier life, there are many social, economic, and ethical quandaries to consider. Some are speculative lifestyle issues – how traditional life cycles might play out.
We’re accustomed to going to primary school until 18 or so, then college or trade school, then the years of career, and finally retirement. If the average lifespan were 120 years, would there be the expectation that one would work until 100 rather than take it easy after 65? Or would there be cycles of school, work, and play throughout the long course of our lives? Perhaps a second or even third career? Would “retirement age” (and access to retirement income) differ according to our choices? And will everyone have options for anti-aging medical treatment, or would the cost and availability be prohibitive for many?
Other concerns are global, such as how we might handle overcrowding and the protection of our natural resources. Will we need to establish birth-limiting laws in an effort to avoid population density? What must we do to develop more sustainable energy systems?
There are even the scary thoughts, such as anti-aging technologies getting used for evil purposes in the wrong hands. We’ve all seen television or movie portrayals of the “perfect human,” such as in Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. Will our ability to genetically engineer people allow us to intentionally erase the differences between us that make life so interesting?
When I consider the potential of an extended lifespan, I think of all of these things – and I worry about some of them. But what troubles me more is that even if we were able to fine-tune our bodies for a longer and healthier life, we can’t always control those events that could lead to a heartache so deep that we may no longer wish to be alive. We can’t control tsunamis, earthquakes, or hurricanes. We don’t seem to be able to stop wars or acts of terrorism. And when I call up images of children being swept out of the arms of their parents in a swirl of wind and water, husbands and wives being torn from each other through senseless bombings, and innocent hostages being held at gunpoint, pleading for their lives, I’m not sure I’ll care to be around for more than my allotted 78 years.
Maybe I’ll be singing a different tune once anti-aging technology comes to a clinic near me. For now, though, I’ll buckle my seat belt, eat healthy meals, exercise every day – and let nature take its course.
