- Just what are anti-aging researchers doing these days?
They are intricately mapping and sequencing biological steps that accelerate
or slow aging. Their progress gets a little complicated, but its impact
is clear. Researchers are actually figuring our how organisms can live
longer by prolonging the life of cells via numerous processes.
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- For some time now researchers have been studying a protein,
actually called a transcription factor, which facilitates the action of
genes by binding to areas that regulate them. The FOXO transcription factor
has drawn considerable attention. FOXO controls the production of insulin,
DNA repair, cell metabolism, cell growth and death as well as protection
from oxidation. [Trends Endocrinology Metabolism 16: 183-89, 2005] FOXO
shuttles between the watery cytoplasm and nucleus inside a living cell.
[Biochemistry Journal 38: 297-309, 2004]
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- Also widely reported over the past two years is the action
of the SIR2 gene in mammals, akin to the Sirtuin 1 gene in humans, to prolong
life. SIR2 apparently accomplishes this life extension via the FOXO protein
(transcription factor), "maximizing survival by tempering cell death
and increasing stress resistance." [Developmental Cell 6: 315-16,
2004] FOXO is activated by biological stress, such as food deprivation,
heat, radiation, etc.
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- Old cells must eventually die and be replaced with new
ones, but the rate of this cell turnover is controlled genetically. When
the SIR2 gene is over-activated (over-expressed, as biologists say), in
yeast cells and roundworms, the lifespan of these animals is extended.
Apparently in humans, the Sirtuin 1 gene shifts FOXO's activity away from
cell death and towards cell survival. [Trends Cell Biology 14: 408-12,
2004] FOXO suppresses the life-shortening effects of insulin, which could
"hold the key to counteracting ageing and common diseases. An understanding
of the processes controlled by these FOXOs should permit development of
novel classes of agents that will more directly counteract or prevent the
damage associated with diverse life-threatening conditions, and so foster
a life of good health to a ripe old age," say researchers at the University
of Sydney. "Just like caloric restriction, lifespan can be increased
in various species by plant-derived polyphenols, such as resveratrol, via
activation of sirtuin genes in cells," they say. [Journal Hypertension
23: 1285-309, 2005]
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- Researchers at the Department of Geriatric Research,
Nutritional Institute for Longevity Sciences, in Obu, Japan, have charted
the latest advance in the understanding of biological aging. They have
shown when cells are under stress, FOXO shifts towards the nucleus of the
cell so Sirtuin 1 can bind to it. Nicotinamide, a biological cousin of
niacin, suppresses the Sirtuin 1 gene activity, while resveratrol, a red
wine molecule, activates it. This biological survival mechanism is "pivotal"
for cells to handle stress and achieve longevity. [International Journal
Molecular Medicine 16: 237-43, 2005] Soon, when all the basic science
is completed, all that will be left is to apply this science. Many "longevitarians"
already are. As researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia say
it, "current progress bodes an ever-increasing length of healthy life
for those who adapt emerging knowledge personally." Anyone consuming
resveratrol is making a veritable anti-aging laboratory out of their own
body.
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