The search giant is launching a venture to extend the human
lifespan.
That would be crazy – if it weren’t Google
This must have struck a chord in me. Since I read the article I have been thinking
about it quite a bit. Enough so, that I
woke within a lucid dream at 4:25 am and I was writing this blog in my dream.
A lucid dream means I was awake enough in the dream to
realize I was dreaming, and started altering the dream. I’ve been writing this blog in my mind over
the past few days. Guess it is time to
write it down!
I love the idea that this search engine giant will throw
some cash toward a significant area of research. Aging has been of long-term interest to me
(likely to most of us!). I did an
unpublished study on aging in mice using a “caloric restriction model” to show
that their cellular immune system improved with an intake of less food. Other studies have shown that caloric
restriction can help immune function, but I did this study in a well-known
model of viral infection.
Why didn’t I publish it?
The data was pretty clear, but it wasn’t quite a perfect study. Nonetheless I wrote a grant to the National
Institutes of Health to further investigate these provocative findings, and was
flatly turned down for funding. I was so
depressed over this that I really started loosing interest in doing any more mouse
research. So, I started doing some
collaborative human research on the effects of stress and meditation on the
immune response.
For about 10 years I also taught a few annual lectures on
aging in the immune system. One lecture
was to the med students in their immunology course. That lecture eventually was cut. I also taught a 2 lecture series in an undergraduate
course on aging. So, I’ve been following
the aging literature for at least 15 years.
Aging in general is a quite fascinating topic. My overall gestalt is that most of aging is
an accumulation of small changes and deficits in multiple systems. There is a relative immune deficiency in
aging individuals that can be quite variable.
Next I’m going to lay out some scientific details about
aging which you might find boring. Feel
free to skip to the end!
There are widespread anatomic and functional changes in many
systems. There is decreased blood
perfusion of organs, fibrosis and scarring, increased fat, and calcification,
this can result in both increased and decreased permeability of blood
vessels. Overall, there are increased
barriers blocking immune cells from traveling to sites of damage or infection,
and, therefore, decreased repair.
The skin glands produce less antibacterial secretions and
the skin also becomes drier. Actually,
the whole body is “drier,” with an increased percentage of fat! These changes result in skin that is more
easily damaged and we see pressure sores and torn skin, leaving openings for
infection.
The immune system can be roughly divided into 2 parts, the
more primitive “innate” system and the more modern “acquired” immune
system. The innate system is active more
quickly in response to infection or any damage, there are “gobbling” cells, the
phagocytes, eating up and destroying invaders, and other cells and soluble mediators
that circulate at all times.
The acquired system “acquires memory.” Some of these cells produce antibodies, small
proteins that can attach to invaders.
These antibody-producing cells can mutate and the antibodies become more
specific for the invader over time. The
cellular immune system also gets selected for more specific cellular activity
during an infection.
During this proliferation of more highly specific cells,
some of these cells become long-lived “memory cells.” These cells can then become active much earlier
than during the initial infection, the next time a similar infection occurs.
What is interesting about aging is that the more primitive
innate immune system is better preserved compared to the more modern acquired
immune system. And the acquired antibody
system is a little bit better preserved then the acquired cellular system.
Perhaps even more interesting is that the whole immune
system is not really destroyed. It is
“dys-regulated.” If you want the
cellular system to be more active within a particular infection, you might get
more antibodies. If you needed more
antibodies, you might get more cellular activity. This
dys-regulation may also contribute to the increased incidence of certain
autoimmune diseases with age and to the increased risk of cancer.
Further, these structural changes in the connective tissue,
fibrosis and increased fat, happens in most organs of the body; heart, lungs,
kidneys, and dys-regulation is a also a common finding in most systems of the
body.
Why was I so triggered by this article in Time magazine?
I was wondering how could we really stop aging?
There are so many systems that are affected by aging. So, how could we stop aging? Or even, what could be the wide variety of possible
ways that we could live longer?
There are the some ways we know might help. Meditation helps to re-regulate the body’s
systems, restores homeostasis. But,
Google already has a meditation guru, employee number 107, Chade-Meng Tan.
Exercise has been shown to decrease the effects of
aging. In many animal models caloric
restriction extends lifespan, a 30% restriction in calories often results in a
30% longer lifespan.
This has not been proven in humans, but is a good argument
for not being overweight!
Of course, these are also the methods that seem to be very
difficult for most people, eating healthier foods, restricting the total intake
of food, and getting more exercise.
Much less trying to get people to sit still and watch their
thoughts!
The joke often told about dietary restriction is that, “you
really don’t live any longer, it just seems longer.”
The above are more active methods of living longer. Others, write about using supplements such as
resveratrol and other supplements to help decrease the oxidation of cells over
time. However, there is not much great
data on this subject.
What about genetic manipulation? There are likely hundreds of genes involved
in aging. Is there a possibility of
finding certain key genes and altering their function, perhaps using newer
methods such as antisense RNA therapies? I suspect Google will aim at the genetic
angle.
Let’s get more creative.
This is Google after all, with billions to spend on this.
Recently we have been seeing studies on how the mind can
interface with computerized limbs. Maybe
we can replace the entire body? Can we
put the brain inside an artificial body?
The Dune series of science fiction writing has this as a method of
increasing human longevity in the form of the Titans a group of “cyborgs”
labeled cymeks.
However, we would still need to stop the aging of the brain
by Alzheimer's protein changes, and the brain vessel aging leading to
ministrokes and slow “simplification” of the aging brain.
What about digitizing our consciousness? That could be a Google-type process! Richard Morgan wrote a science fiction
trilogy about a new age where people are downloaded into bodies called
“sleeves.” They can be sent to far
interstellar distances digitally and downloaded into new bodies. The rich can live forever.
I applaud spending money on research to keep people
healthy. I wonder why Google would
choose this topic? I guess all those
rich kids are starting to become middle aged!
Perhaps we need to get back to the things we can control,
such as stress reduction using meditation, exercise, and decreased dietary
intake.
I am in favor of funding further research on supplements as
well.
Can we do more? Can
we control our genes, and hence, control our fate?
Perhaps there even more possibilities at the far edges of
science.
Once again, I recommend reading the books by Lynne McTaggart:
The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
(2003)
The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your
Life and the World (2007)
The Bond: Connecting through the Space Between Us (2011)
I especially like the books and writings by Larry Dossey, particularly,
I love his editorials in the journal Explore.
Perhaps it is possible to change the fundamental nature of
our physical form using our access to consciousness. (Heretic!)
Maybe. We shall
see.
In any case, I am very much looking forward to seeing
whatever unfolds.
Go Google!
