First Gene Therapy Successful Against Aging-Associated Decline: Mouse Lifespan Extend

[ScienceRocks]

First Gene Therapy Successful Against Aging-Associated Decline: Mouse Lifespan Extended Up to 24% With a Single Treatment
First gene therapy successful against aging-associated decline: Mouse lifespan extended up to 24% with a single treatment

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2012) — A new study consisting of inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme which -- metaphorically -- slows down the biological clock -- was successful. The research provides a "proof-of-principle" that this "feasible and safe" approach can effectively "improve health span."


A number of studies have shown that it is possible to lengthen the average life of individuals of many species, including mammals, by acting on specific genes. To date, however, this has meant altering the animals' genes permanently from the embryonic stage -- an approach impracticable in humans. Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by its director María Blasco, have demonstrated that the mouse lifespan can be extended by the application in adult life of a single treatment acting directly on the animal's genes. And they have done so using gene therapy, a strategy never before employed to combat aging. The therapy has been found to be safe and effective in mice.

Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals' health, delaying the onset of age-*‐related diseases -- like osteoporosis and insulin resistance -- and achieving improved readings on aging indicators like neuromuscular coordination.

 

[JimBowie1958]

That is very interesting. Have you seen this one?

Chronic Buckyball Administration Doubles Rat Lifespan

In the current study researchers fed the molecule dissolved in olive oil to rats and compared outcomes to a control group of rats who got plain olive oil.

The main question they wanted to answer was whether chronic C60 administration had any toxicity, what they discovered actually surprised them.

“Here we show that oral administration of C60 dissolved in olive oil (0.8 mg/ml) at reiterated doses (1.7 mg/kg of body weight) to rats not only does not entail chronic toxicity,” they write “but it almost doubles their lifespan.”

“The estimated median lifespan (EML) for the C60-treated rats was 42 months while the EMLs for control rats and olive oil-treated rats were 22 and 26 months, respectively,” they write.

http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/C60-Fullerene.pdf

After five months
of treatment (M15) one rat treated with water only exhibited some
palpable tumours in the abdomen region. Due to the rapid development
of tumours (about 4 cmof diameter) this rat died atM17. As
rats are known to be sensitive to gavages, we decided to stop the
treatment for all rats and to observe their behaviour and overall
survival.
All remaining animals survived with no apparent sign of
behavioural trouble until M25 (Fig. 3a). At the end of M25 the
animals of the control groups showed signs of ulcerative dermatitis
with ageing while C60-treated animals remained normal. As the
growths of all surviving animals showed no significant difference
until M30 (Fig. 3b) indicating that the treatment did not alter their
food intake, we continued observing their survival.
At M38 all water-treated control rats were dead (Fig. 3a). This
agrees with the expected lifespan of this animal species that is
thirty to thirty six months. At this time 67% of olive-oil-treated rats
and 100% of C60-treated rats were still alive.

Once the first rat died, they stopped giving the rats the Buckeyball solution, so who knows how long they could have lived had they continued?

 

[waltky]

The researchers say that biological systems are "one of the coolest places for computing"...

Rewritable DNA memory shown off
22 May 2012 - The trick was to balance the effects of two competing proteins - integrase and excisionase

Researchers in the US have demonstrated a means to use short sections of DNA as rewritable data "bits" in living cells. The technique uses two proteins adapted from viruses to "flip" the DNA bits. Though it is at an early stage, the advance could help pave the way for computing and memory storage within biological systems. A team reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences say the tiny information storehouses may also be used to study cancer and aging.

The team, from Stanford University's bioengineering department, has been trying for three years to fine-tune the biological recipe they use to change the bits' value. The bits comprise short sections of DNA that can, under the influence of two different proteins, be made to point in one of two directions within the chromosomes of the bacterium E. coli. The data are then "read out" as the sections were designed to glow green or red when under illumination, depending on their orientation. The two proteins, integrase and excisionase, were taken from a bacteriophage - a virus that infects bacteria. They are involved in the DNA modification process by which the DNA from a virus is incorporated into that of its host.

The trick was striking a balance between the two counteracting proteins in order to reliably switch the direction of the DNA section that acted as a bit. After some 750 trials, the team struck on the right recipe of proteins, and now have their sights set on creating a full "byte" - eight bits - of DNA information that can be similarly manipulated. The work is at the frontier of biological engineering, and senior author of the research Drew Endy said that applications of the approach are yet to come. "I'm not even really concerned with the ways genetic data storage might be useful down the road, only in creating scalable and reliable biological bits as soon as possible," Dr Endy said. "Then we'll put them in the hands of other scientists to show the world how they might be used."

As the DNA sections maintained their logical value even as the bacteria doubled 90 times, one clear application would be in using the DNA bits as "reporter" bits on the proliferation of cells, for example in cancerous tissue. But longer-term integrations of these computational components to achieve computing within biological systems are also on the researchers' minds. "One of the coolest places for computing is within biological systems," Dr Endy said.

BBC News - Rewritable DNA memory shown off

 

[ScienceRocks]

I believe nearly everything is possible and the more we learn the more we won't know. That's a good reason to keep pushing forward!

 

[ShackledNation]

Give me whatever that mouse is on while I'm still young!

 

[waltky]

Granny gonna get her bones tested an' she says if the doctor's cute she might let him jump her bones...

Nasa team find 'new way' to spot osteoporosis
28 May 2012 - For many people, breaking a bone is their first clue that they have the condition

Nasa scientists believe they have found a way to spot osteoporosis bone loss at the earliest disease stages. Currently, the condition can go undetected for years and may only be diagnosed with scans after weakening of the bones has led to a fracture. The new test - designed partly with astronauts in mind as they too can suffer bone loss due to the microgravity of space - looks for traces of bone calcium in the urine. The work is published in PNAS journal.

The technique developed by scientists at Arizona State University working with the US space agency analyses calcium isotopes - different atoms of the element calcium, derived from bone and each with their own specific number of neutrons. The balance or abundance of these different isotopes changes when bone is destroyed and formed and can therefore indicate early changes in bone density. To put it to the test, the researchers studied a dozen healthy volunteers whom they confined to bed rest for 30 days. Prolonged bed rest triggers bone loss.

The technique was able to detect bone loss after as little as one week of bed rest - long before changes in bone density would be detectable on conventional medical scans such as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). And, unlike other biochemical tests for bone loss that look for blood markers of increased bone turnover, it can give a direct measure of net bone loss. Lead researcher Prof Ariel Anbar said: "The next step is to see if it works as expected in patients with bone-altering diseases. That would open the door to clinical applications." As well as being useful for diagnosing osteoporosis it could help with monitoring other diseases that affect the bones, including cancer.

Nasa nutritionist Scott Smith said: "Nasa conducted these studies because astronauts in microgravity experience skeletal unloading and suffer bone loss. It's one of the major problems in human spaceflight, and we need to find better ways to monitor and counteract it." Dr Nicola Peel of the National Osteoporosis Society in the UK said: "It is always exciting to see new techniques being developed with the potential to increase our understanding of the evolution and mechanism of bone disease. "This approach of using calcium isotopes is very interesting and appears to have potential to detect very early changes of bone loss. "This could therefore have a future role in the clinical evaluation of patients."

BBC News - Nasa team find 'new way' to spot osteoporosis