Anti aging therapy

You modify your genes to live longer and better? Scientists at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have a key step to slow the "biological clock" for the first time acting on genes. They have done with gene therapy (Anti aging therapy), a technique that heals repairing defective genes of patients. This strategy has already been used in patients with hemophilia or rare diseases such as the "bubble kids" but was first tested against diseases that cause aging.

CNIO research, led by its director Maria Blasco, has shown that gene therapy can "extend the healthy years of life" and get a "rejuvenating effect". For now, only in mice.

The treated mice lived 24% longer. Assuming that the average life of humans is about 80 years, this would mean that the treatment would reach half century of life. "But the important thing is not to live, but these animals after treatment have increased what in English is called" health span "or life without disease," explains Blasco ABC. The details of this research, which has also involved the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

Before it's too late

The treated mice also prolonged their life and delayed the onset of typical diseases of aging: osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, neuromuscular coordination ... Although not all laboratory animals got the same result.

The therapy was tested on animals and elderly adults. Adult mice were the best performers and 24% lived more than older. When thinking of a possible application in humans, these results would encourage to apply therapy before they wreak havoc and aging too late to reverse the decline.

The Spanish research is what scientists call a proof of concept. Testing a hypothesis and demonstrates a treatment that works. In this case, been shown that aging is caused by the lack of an enzyme, telomerase. Gene therapy is to correct this lack by introducing into the body's cells the telomerase gene.

"Taxi" biological

To carry the body corrective gene, a modified way of "biological" Taxi virus was used. With the infectivity of the virus, the gene deposited corrector telomerase gene in all cells. The virus used is safe and has already been used in similar therapies in patients with haemophilia.

CNIO therapy work with a single treatment and further demonstrated its safety .None of the treated mice developed cancer, one of the greatest dangers of this strategy.

The telomerase gene slows aging but is also a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In adult organisms telomerase promotes cancer and immortality of tumor cells. Therefore, there has always been a barrier to their use in designing anti-aging therapies. "We got the virus used does not integrate the telomerase gene in the genome of the cells to reduce the possibility of causing tumors. Those cells with telomerase much to divide the lost shaped increase their number of divisions, "says the director of the National Cancer Research Centre.

"A feasible strategy '

In an editorial accompanying the Spanish investigation, two researchers consider this therapy a feasible and safe strategy to prolong life in good health.

One of the advantages of gene therapy over other possible anti-aging treatments is that a single treatment would suffice. "No need constant administration of a drug throughout the patient's life" , says Fatima Bosch, gene therapy expert at the Autonomous University Barcelona and collaborative research.

The next step now is to identify the diseases associated with aging that can benefit from this therapy. The strategy has already attracted interest from the pharmaceutical industry. .