Age: It’s All in Your Blood

All of the current crop of research resulting from heterochronic parabiosis studies and telomerase studies are most likely just hitting different ways of ordering stem cells back to work. So you get increased tissue maintenance, and surprisingly less cancer than one might expect from putting damaged stem cells to work in damaged environments and damaged tissues.

The decline in stem cell activity is just one of the things that happens in aging, and it seems likely that this reduced activity is a response to various forms of cell and tissue damage. Researchers are now starting to identify some of the cellular cross-talk and signaling that mediates this reaction.

Putting stem cells back to work doesn't deal with lipofuscin in long-lived cells. It doesn't deal with glucosepane cross-links that our biochemistry cannot break down. It doesn't reduce nuclear DNA damage and the accompanying cancer risk. It may be somewhat helpful for amyloid accumulation via increased immune activity, such as the beta amyloid in Alzheimer's and transthyretin amyloid linked to heart failure, based on some studies. It doesn't appear to do much for accumulations of senescent cells or mitochondrial DNA damage in cell population. It doesn't reverse immune system dysregulation (inflammaging) all that much, though again there are some studies suggesting that cell transplants can suppress inflammation and this may be one of their modes of action.

So there are whole swathes of damage linked to age-related disease that this line of work doesn't help. It should probably be thought of as a parallel line of stem cell research, with expected outcomes and development akin to that achieved through cell transplant therapies. It is good, helpful progress, but not the cure for aging on its own.

Separately, examining epigenetic changes in blood and tissues appears so far to be a plausible road to a robust biomarker of aging. Such a thing is very much needed in a field in which the only way to tell right now if a possible rejuvenation treatment works is to wait and see. That costs a lot, millions and years even in mouse studies, and so the pace at which new ideas can run through the system is pretty slow. A lot of things are just never tried or validated. If instead you could run a treatment on mice, then a month later run a blood test with a reasonable expectation that the results correlated well with remaining life expectancy, then a lot more can be done with any given amount of time and money.

I can't comment on the merit of this particular study. I just don't have the backround. I have watched this institute since its inception. The institute is beautiful. It resides on acres of beautiful land. It was basically funded with Beryl Buck Trust funds. I really thought they would do great things that would add to science. I don't know what this institute has added to science and age research. I sometimes think it's just a place where rich kids can do internships, while scientists play with worms? Play with nematodes--I just hope your institute is really doing something, and not just a playground? That money could have helped a lot if needy Marin county residents. Yes, we have a huge homeless problem.

Why am I questioning the Buck Center for Aging? Because I don't think this is what Berly Buck wanted to do with her husbands money.

Right from her trust, "used for exclusively nonprofit, charitable, religious or educational purposes in providing care for the needy in Marin County, Calif., and for other nonprofit charitable, religious or educational purposes in that county."

My point is every once and awhile I hear something out of this Institute. "Ibuprofen increase the lifespan of worms." I just wonder if the money could have been spent elsewhere?

When you write out a trust, make it iron tight. Lawyers will rip it apart.

Good luck Buck Institute with your future! I think you should do a better job at Puplic Relations though. There's so much grant money out there ripe for the taking? I really like organizations that have no affiliation to business entities.

Google cache version since the Buck blog can't stand up to HN traffic:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

Semi related TED talk : How young blood might help reverse aging. Yes, really

https://www.ted.com/talks/tony_wyss_coray_how_young_blood_mi...

> We have all heard those particularly haunting tales about witches remaining ever youthful by imbibing a young woman’s blood, but until a few years ago these tales were only told to frighten children before bed.

Erszebet Báthory really did that shit. It's doubtful she remained youthful but she thought she would.

Too good to be true, perhaps.

http://www.nature.com/news/young-blood-anti-ageing-mechanism...

Supposedly there is a Hong Kong billionaire who has regular blood infusions from a stable of healthy young people he keeps around.

I'll preface this entire post by saying I have no idea what I'm talking about.

But it makes sense to me. I read an article a few years back about an elderly man (90+ years old) that attributed his longevity to donating blood regularly. It would not surprise me if simply "refreshing" your supply had health benefits.