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    • Aging is the Body’s Cure for Cancer

    John on February 16, 2010 at 12:01 am

    Turns out that old joke about getting old is scientifically true. It really is better than the alternative:

    One of the biggest puzzles in biology – how and why living cells age – has been solved by an international team based at Newcastle University, in north-east England.

    The Newcastle team, working with the University of Ulm in Germany, used a comprehensive “systems biology” approach, involving computer modelling and experiments with cell cultures and genetically modified mice, to investigate why cells become senescent. In this aged state, cells stop dividing and the tissues they make up show physical signs of deterioration, from wrinkling skin to a failing heart.

    The research, published by the journal Molecular Systems Biology, shows that when an ageing cell detects serious damage to its DNA – caused by the wear and tear of life – it sends out specific internal signals.

    These distress signals trigger the cell’s mitochondria, its tiny energy-producing power packs, to make oxidising “free radical” molecules, which in turn tell the cell either to destroy itself or to stop dividing. The aim is to avoid the damaged DNA that causes cancer.

    It certainly sounds like the sort of breakthrough that could lead to longer, healthier lives down the line. That in itself is good news…

    But I’m taken by the ironic, almost poetic nature of this discovery. In a real biological sense death, at least death on a cellular scale, is found to be oddly pro-life. Aging turns out to be a gradual battle against more catastrophic failure.  It’s all very counter-intuitive and yet somehow not unpleasant to learn.

    Category: Science & Tech |

    9 Comments

    1. mmcan

      This aspect is of great concern as more and more people try to combat the effects of aging by taking HGH. Are you aware of any real data that shows those people are actually incurring more cancers because of this?

      February 16, 2010 @ 4:00 am
    2. John

      I’m not aware of any such data. I guess, given this latest finding, that would be a good secondary prediction to make.

      February 16, 2010 @ 7:34 am
    3. Jeff

      Interesting comment MCCAN. Although if no such correlation is found between HGH enhancing techniques (I would also be interested in stratifying the observations on whether the technique is exogenic or endogenic), then could it be possible that the technique helps prevent the DNA damage in the first place? Because if it did, then one could postulate that there would be no need for cells to age as a means to forestall the replication of genetic damage.

      February 16, 2010 @ 8:13 am
    4. bill glass

      love that word : counter-intuitive.

      February 16, 2010 @ 9:36 am
    5. mmcan

      Jeff, I have had similar “wonderings”, kind of chicken or the egg in a way. If the immune system is able to police vs atypical cells earlier during the formation of carcinogenic cells, would this ultimately help avoid cancers, and would HGH or other “fountain of youth” therapies be beneficial?? But then one could consider immuno-modulation or immuno-stimulation to be great and viable way to fight cancers (and it is in some settings)

      I was a little surprised to see that this team discounted the previous theory about telomeres and their role in senescence.

      Hoping they figure this stuff out before too much longer! Just gonna drink more resveretrol.

      February 16, 2010 @ 11:10 am
    6. Jeff

      MMCAN, Good point about telomeres. I was actually scanning the excerpt for mention of how telomeres participate in the process, but found no reference to them. I assumed that they were discussed in the broader article which I do not have time to read, but perhaps you read it and their effect is not analyzed in the research.

      It is interesting that you mention resveretrol; one of many techniques to slow the process of aging. I differentiated between exogenic vs. endogenic sources of HGH enhancement in my comment because I follow my own regimen of natural hormonal enhancement (http://www.hormonalfitness.com/). I use diet, lifestyle, and resistance training to endogenically stimulate HGH and testosterone, and reduce cortisol, as a means to slow the aging process. I am hoping the author is on to something when he advocates an endogenic approach as a means to stimulate anti-aging hormones which uses the body’s own biofeedback mechanism to avoid inappropriate and potentially harmful overdoses due to exogenic sources.

      To your good health!!

      February 17, 2010 @ 6:55 am
    7. WJ Alden

      I hope this has been speculation for some time, because it has been my belief for a long time, and I’m no biologist, geneticist or any other sort of health professional. It’s just that it seemed pretty logical to me at least 10 years ago that since the only form of cellular immortality we know of – cancer – kills you, that aging is the bodies natural cure for cancer. Look up telomeres and HeLa cells for more on the subject. Find a cure for cancer and you may have the answer to immortality itself.

      February 21, 2010 @ 10:52 pm
    8. Sarah

      Now this is just a crazy idea of mine…

      With the right type of cancer, would it be possible to “cure” aging or scarring with controlled cancer stimulating the growth of select cells outside of the body and then reintroducing the replicated cells back to the body? A different way of looking at it would be like using the smudge tool in a photo editing program.

      February 24, 2010 @ 7:50 pm
    9. John

      In his series of Mars books, Kim Stanley Robinson envisions a future in which young adults have their entire genome sequenced and stored so that, later on, doctors can use gene therapy to reverse damage to their DNA, thus granting them a much longer, healthier life.

      I like it. Let’s do it in the next ten years please.

      February 24, 2010 @ 8:18 pm

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