Adlin Pertishya Jebaraj, Correspondent, Industry Outlook
Anti-aging research today has progressed much beyond lotions, serums and cosmetic procedures. Contemporary science is finally revealing the cellular processes at the heart of how and why we age and, more importantly, how we can interfere with these mechanisms to help us live longer than evolutionary biology has defined is possible, but to live longer in health. The influence on the cellular health state and aging will help to target the biological processes of decline using methods that will lead to a far future scenario of longevity science becoming central to preventive care.
The latest breakthroughs in anti-aging scientific studies are involved with anti-aging cellular mechanisms that include maintenance, repair and regeneration of cells. The process of aging is due to the breakdown of cellular parts namely, DNA, proteins, mitochondria, and membranes, that exceed the repair rate of the body. This prompts the deceleration of cellular aging mitigations to be a primary concern of the scientists. The major entry points in this area are reversing senescence, enhancing mitochondrial state, lengthening of telomeres, and strengthening the DNA repair and aging mechanisms. In combination, such mechanisms serve the biological basis of the age-delaying therapies that may prevent chronic illnesses.
Senolytic therapy is one of the most exciting approaches to senescent cell targeting as a way to increase longevity. Cellular senescence is the senescence in which the cell permanently ceases division and the release of inflammatory substances into the tissue. Although senescence turns out to be cancer-preventive, accumulation is bad. Senescence reversion research is currently focusing on identifying drugs and other natural compounds that kill aged cells or instead, rejuvenate their functioning selectively. The method not only has the possibility of delaying the aging process of the cells, but it also has the prospect of decreasing the chances of heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
“Research into compounds like rapamycin that shows promise despite potential side effects.”-Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate, structural biology
The health and longevity of the cell focuses on mitochondria since it is the energy maker of the cell. Mitochondrial efficiency causes more oxidative stress, and is lowered with age, which produces less energy. This has a direct hit on strength, cognitive performance, and metabolism. Mitochondrial rejuvenating interventions, or exercise mimetics, NAD+ precursors, and targeted antioxidants, have emerged as a priority in biological aging pathways in the hope of slowing down aging. The mechanisms of the action of these therapies are the restoration of mitochondrial performance, reduction of oxidative stress, and enhancement of cellular protection.
The protective ends on the chromosome, known as telomeres, are also shortened by each cell division. Aging and age-related disease are attributed to shortened telomeres. Scientific methods to anti-aging that go beyond cosmetics include lengthening telomeres via lifestyle interventions, gene therapy and drugs, all of which are under study. The capacity to repair the DNA damage by the body is of equal significance. Effective DNA repair and the aging process bar mutations of genes, uphold stability of the genome, and minimize cancer severity.Scientific studies are revealing how people could be empowered to take better care of existing repair mechanisms within the body, which could make several age-related conditions less common.
“Only 20 percent of our longevity is genetically determined. The rest is what we do, how we live our lives and increasingly the molecules that we take.”- David A. Sinclair, Harvard, epigenetics & aging
Regenerative medicine is the most radical development in the field of cellular health and aging most likely lies in regenerative medicine. Stem cell therapy is at the forefront of stem cell therapy of aging and can be used to replace damaged tissue, restore organ functions and reverse some of the aging of cells. Such treatments combined with epigenetics and the study of aging are aiding scientists to reprogram aged cells back to a young state. Repetitive measures of epigenetic therapies may restore the cell clock through the influence of genes associated with inflammation, metabolism, and repair.
Some of the best known molecules in the longevity field include NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) and sirtuins, a metabolic regulatory proteins and DNA repair protein. It is known that the amount of NAD+ decreases in the course of aging, influencing the activity of NAD+ and sirtuins, leading to the pathology of cells. Increasing the NAD+ using supplements or precursors has also been reported to increase mitochondrial activities and decrease inflammation and body-wide cellular well-being in animal models. These methods are also under clinical trials to determine their validity in terms of slowing down cellular aging in human beings.
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Oxidative stress and longevity find close connections in chronic inflammation, which tends to be called the process of inflammaging. The low-grade inflammation contributes to rapidly escalating tissue loss, whereas one of the cascades of oxidative stress, which occurs due to the unbalance between free radicals and antioxidants, harms DNA, proteins, and lipids. Entry into interventions directed to cell health and inflammation (including dietary polyphenols and omega-3 fatty acids or anti-inflammatory drugs) is emerging as a useful intervention to reduce age-related decline. Battling these causal agents, scientists believe multiple chronic age-related conditions can be averted.
Current cellular anti-aging therapy is an extremely interdisciplinary field that represents a synergy of molecular biology, pharmacology and bioengineering. One of the breakthroughs is novel senolytic drugs, which have recently been proposed to appear in 2020; gene-editing modifications to age-related mutations, such as CRISPR, as a method to correct mutations; and artificial intelligence-based drug discovery of anti-aging compounds. These anti-aging methods outside of cosmetics are going beyond the lab into initial, small-scale human trials, a very important step toward practical realities.
The realization of the impact of the cellular mechanisms on the aging process is a guide on how to intervene. Instead of treating diseases, there is a move towards the change of biological pathways to slow the aging process. Such a paradigm shift implies that eventually aging might be considered and treated as a medical condition.
“If you can slow the biological process of aging, even a minor slowdown in the rate at which we age yields improvements in virtually every condition of frailty and disability and mortality that we see at later ages.” -Jay Olshansky, Ph.D. (University of Illinois, Chicago)
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As we further engage the interface, we will see longevity targeting senescent cells, optimizing mitochondrial performance, improving telomere integrity, and reprogrammed gene expression becoming a major component of preventive health. Through epigenetics and aging, regenerative medicine, and precision nutrition, the aim is not necessarily to add years, but to give those years healthy, productive, and free of disease.
An anti-aging revolution in human health is on the verge of occurring due to the intertwining of the study of anti-aging cellular mechanisms, advanced biotechnology and lifestyle science. With such treatments, the ultimate hope is that they will provide individual-specific interventions that will enable a person to live into their later decades with vibrancy and regenerative power. Long life science is no longer a far-fetched dream, but it is fast taking the form of reality as a result of a tireless quest to gain knowledge, to prevent and to reverse life processes.
Aging is caused broadly by cellular senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of telomeres, and DNA damage, leading to impairment in repair systems, decreased energy production, and increased probability of diseases.
Currently, it is not possible to fully reverse age-associated degenerative changes, but some early studies indicate it is feasible to prevent the progression of, or partially reverse, age-associated degeneration through the use of compounds that target senescent cells, mitochondria, telomeres, and epigenetic changes.
Aesthetic anti-aging focuses on external factors (skin, hair, wrinkles), while cellular anti-aging focuses on the biological factors to extend health-span and improve health and disease prevention.
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