Ageing into a miserably ill life, supported by crutches, healthcare and families, would be a thing of the past if scientists find the right human application for a “forever young” drug that has emerged in a Harvard University laboratory.
According to the findings of a research carried out by Dr Ronald DePinho, recently carried by well-known journal Nature, the drug that offers eternal youth as read about in folklores and mythology, could be experimented on human beings in the near future.
It would allow longer and healthier lives, free from debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, or cancer. Such a drug would give skin and hair their youthful lustre, reported Daily Mail.
The scenario seem to be straight out of the Brad Pitt-starrer The Curious Case of Bejamin Button, in which he ages in reverse by getting younger by the year until he looks youthful.
The breakthrough centres around structures called telemores that are tiny biological clocks that cap ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.
Over time, the telemores get shorter and raise the odds of age-related diseases. At one point, they become so short that the cells die. This enzyme called telomerase is proven to have capacity to rebuild the telomere caps.
According to the report, Dr DePinho succeeded in “shocking” the enzyme back to life.
In the first major experiment with the drug, Dr DePinho reserved ageing on mice. From what looked like brains, skin, guts and other organs that resembled those of a 80-year-old person, the mice got younger after being administered with the experimental drug.
All that needed was just two months of being the enzyme for the mice to grow younger. They had by then re-grown so many degenerated cells.
In what was termed as remarkable, a male mouse transformed from infertility to fathering large litters, the report said.
“By 2025 we are going to have 1.2billion people aged over 60, which is when you start to see cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. We are on a collision course for a significant amount of burden to society. This is the first time that ageing has been reversed,” Dr DePinho was quoted as saying.
Source: Emirates 24 7 Lifestyle
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