latent aaaack
19th July 2007, 10:50 PM
Well, PETA, it was the thought that counted.
Anyone know more about if this is the first suggestion that a cancer-supressor boosting drug could function as an anti-ageing treatment? I've heard about genetic or calorie intake modifications researchers have done to animals to increase their lifespan but not something that could be close to being done by pills in the foreseeable future.
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html
excerpt:
Cancer-proof mice live longer
A protein known to keep cancer at bay now also looks to be a fountain of youth. Mice with an extra copy of the tumour-killing gene that pumps out this protein live longer than those with just one copy, and are better at combating the cell damage that causes ageing.
The finding hints that a drug designed to boost the tumour suppressor, called p53, could work as an anti-ageing treatment for people, says Manuel Serrano, a biologist at Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid. Serrano's team publish their work in this week's Nature1 (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html#B1).
The conclusion seems to stand in direct contradiction to previous work2 (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html#B2), which showed that a boost in p53 kept mice cancer free but also caused them to age more quickly. But there's a key difference between these studies, the researchers say: in the new work, the normal regulatory mechanisms remain in place, so p53 is churned out only when needed. This seems to turn an ageing protein into a youth-preserving one.
"It's a very impressive effect," says Larry Donehower of Baylor University in Houston, who led the older work. "It's very hopeful because it says under some circumstances you can get the best of both worlds."
....
But the age boost wasn't just an effect of fewer mice dying of cancer. When the researchers looked only at cancer-free mice in the study, they found that these transgenic mice lived 25% longer, on average, than normal ones. The oldest mice in both groups died at about the same age, but more of the transgenic mice lived into their golden years than the normal ones.
When the researchers looked more closely at the youthful mice, they found higher levels of genes that combat oxidative damage than in regular rodents. The mice with extra p53 also held up better against a lethal dose of paraquat, a drug that causes oxidative damage.
Anyone know more about if this is the first suggestion that a cancer-supressor boosting drug could function as an anti-ageing treatment? I've heard about genetic or calorie intake modifications researchers have done to animals to increase their lifespan but not something that could be close to being done by pills in the foreseeable future.
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html
excerpt:
Cancer-proof mice live longer
A protein known to keep cancer at bay now also looks to be a fountain of youth. Mice with an extra copy of the tumour-killing gene that pumps out this protein live longer than those with just one copy, and are better at combating the cell damage that causes ageing.
The finding hints that a drug designed to boost the tumour suppressor, called p53, could work as an anti-ageing treatment for people, says Manuel Serrano, a biologist at Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid. Serrano's team publish their work in this week's Nature1 (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html#B1).
The conclusion seems to stand in direct contradiction to previous work2 (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-8.html#B2), which showed that a boost in p53 kept mice cancer free but also caused them to age more quickly. But there's a key difference between these studies, the researchers say: in the new work, the normal regulatory mechanisms remain in place, so p53 is churned out only when needed. This seems to turn an ageing protein into a youth-preserving one.
"It's a very impressive effect," says Larry Donehower of Baylor University in Houston, who led the older work. "It's very hopeful because it says under some circumstances you can get the best of both worlds."
....
But the age boost wasn't just an effect of fewer mice dying of cancer. When the researchers looked only at cancer-free mice in the study, they found that these transgenic mice lived 25% longer, on average, than normal ones. The oldest mice in both groups died at about the same age, but more of the transgenic mice lived into their golden years than the normal ones.
When the researchers looked more closely at the youthful mice, they found higher levels of genes that combat oxidative damage than in regular rodents. The mice with extra p53 also held up better against a lethal dose of paraquat, a drug that causes oxidative damage.