Is it possible for humans to live forever? Treat aging like a cure.

We can cure diseases associated with aging?

Aubrey DE grey has the ambition to defeat aging.

Can humans cure aging as well as other diseases?

Countless diseases have been defeated, polio, typhoid, measles, tetanus, yellow fever, smallpox, diphtheria, and chickenpox have been eradicated in many parts of the world. With the help of vaccines and powerful drugs, we have the ability to fight pathogens that threaten human life, such as bacteria, parasites, and viruses. But there is a "disease" that humans have never been able to escape -- aging. As the years get older, the cells become more dysfunctional, leading to cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease. Age-related diseases kill about 100, 000 people a day. To slow the ageing process, billions of dollars are being pumped into the world.

However, some researchers believe that our understanding of these conditions is wrong, and that we should see aging itself as a preventable and treatable disease. In a recent BBC podcast, "Tomorrow's World," the host introduced some researchers who are working on slowing down or even stopping the ageing process. They are pinning their hopes on recent studies that suggest that physical aging may prevent and cure. From a biological point of view, the speed of ageing is determined by heredity and environmental factors. Small errors in DNA, if accumulated, can make cells go wrong and eventually lead to tissue damage. Over time, the severity of these changes can determine whether you are healthy enough to spend the rest of your life, or if you are suffering from chronic diseases. The scientists who are interested in this are undoubtedly on the verge of mainstream medicine. But a number of research centres around the world are looking at ways to stop ageing as the focus of research. Animal experiments show that we do have the potential to significantly extend the lifespan of a particular species, and add some hope for humans.

Metformin is a common diabetes drug that can extend the life of rodents. In addition, in the early 1990 s, the current Google established team, vice chairman of the Calico laboratory aging Cynthia Kenyon proved that as long as change the worm genetic coding of a letter, can extend its life from three weeks to six weeks.

Aubrey De Grey, one of the representatives of human longevity research in the podcast "Tomorrow‘s World" introduced a way to extend human life. Mr DE grey is the chief scientific officer of the Strategies for developing Senescence Research Foundation in California. The foundation studies regenerative medicine and aims to extend the lives of healthy people. The goal, says Mr DE grey, is to develop a specific set of treatments for middle - aged and elderly people, to match their physical and psychological age to those under 30. Mr DE grey says they want to "correct the bad changes between the ages of 30 and 70". In his opinion, cell damage associated with aging and causing related diseases is mainly related to seven physiological factors. Respectively: tissue cell regeneration rate was slow; Uncontrolled cell proliferation (eg, cancer); The cells did not die at the prescribed time (same as cancer); Mitochondrial DNA damage; Waste is deposited in cells; Waste accumulation outside the cell; And the extracellular matrix is rigid.

Can blood transfusion slow down the aging process?

If we focus on this, perhaps we can defeat the fate of aging too.

He and his team say they have found the way to deal with all of the above problems, can use their research and development of therapy to solve the "stem cell therapy can solve the first problem, that is, cells had fewer problems." This, says Mr DE grey, can provide fresh young cells to the tissue, replacing cells that die during ageing. Other problems, such as the failure of cells to die at the prescribed time, require more complex solutions. "We can use gene targeting techniques to introduce suicide genes that produce proteins that kill cells." "Said DE grey. But the point is that these genes must be able to express a deadly protein only if the cell's growth model does more harm than good.

These methods alone are not enough to stop aging, says Mr DE grey, but it may extend the lifespan of patients by about 30 years. In his imagination, the future of "rejuvenation technology" can transform the cells in the elderly into a young state, which is to buy them some time. Ideally, the physical level of a 60-year-old can be restored to the level of 30. But because such treatments can't be done once and for all, in 30 years these cells will age and become 60.

Mr DE grey hopes that by then, people will have introduced "version 2.0" therapy, which will allow patients to return to their children again. That way, by the time the cell turns 60 again, the person's actual age is 150 years old. But you have to be careful when doing this. There is no empirical evidence to show how people respond to this "software upgrade". Like a computer, if you upgrade too much, your body may be "stuck", but DE grey believes that the idea will hinder the development of anti-aging technology. He points out, we always will be aging as an inevitable fate, so trying to prevent the damage of aging tend to be regarded as pseudoscience, believe that age-related diseases can be cured him more than one. Geneticist at harvard medical school George Church said that although there are many colleagues think complicated age-related diseases and has no cure, but he thinks that this view is wrong, "if we can control environmental and genetic factors, can let a person rejuvenation, longevity and health." "In industrialized countries, most diseases are associated with aging, and I think that can be solved," church said.

One of the main ways to prolong life is called "vampire therapy", which sounds scary. In a recent trial, the scientists showed signs of improvement in a recent trial of the blood of young blood donors between the ages of 18 and 30. Early Alzheimer's patients regained their ability to bathe, dress or do housework. The experiment is still under way. But a start-up companies in the United States called the Ambrosia has offered a similar project for old customers, as long as agreed to between 16 and 25 years old blood donors into his body, each treatment to get a $8000 (50000 yuan). The company says the blood transfusion can reduce the symptoms of early Alzheimer's and make the hair darker in people around age 60. However, the company's research has not been published in any peer-reviewed journals and has been criticized for not taking into account the placebo effect. But some studies of animals have shown that these treatments have a biological basis. In 2013, a study conducted by the harvard stem cell institute showed that young mice had a growth factor called GDF11, which increases muscle strength in mice. But the results were not replicated. The BBC Future website has also looked at other ways to extend animal life. Others say the key to longevity is simply cutting calories.

But can we really "eliminate" death? For a long time, it has been proposed to freeze the brain or body that has just died, and then resurrect it when technology becomes more advanced. Many companies have even offered such services to wealthy clients. But so far, no one has really come back from the dead. Others, such as Ray Kurzweil, the top engineer at Google, argue that "thinking uploads" will be a way to achieve eternal life (at least on the digital level). These whimsical ideas seem more like science fiction, and it's easy to confuse them with studies by degre and others on longevity. But putting aside how to achieve it, extending human life decades, even centuries, will bring about thorny social realities. If everyone lived longer, society would be hit hard. Some people worry that long life will lead to overpopulation, and the earth may not be able to sustain such a large population.

Mr DE grey says he is often asked whether the technology he is studying is likely to be abused by the powerful, or whether the long life will be boring. He doesn't have time to think about these issues, and believes that artificial meat, desalination, solar and other renewable energy can boost earth's capacity to live longer. But all this is premised on unknown technologies that may not be able to equitably and equitably mitigate human suffering.

But if the early developers of vaccines and antibiotics were also imprisoned by the idea, many people might not even be in their 40s. The medical advances of the past two centuries tell us that man is capable of defeating the diseases that afflict us. And if we focus on this, perhaps we can defeat the fatalism of aging too.

From: 

http://tech.sina.com.cn/d/f/2018-04-03/doc-ifyswxnq1667322.shtml