Saturday, November 21, 2020

Evidence that Aging Can Be Reversed

There is a recent report out on an Israeli experiment which seems to have reversed two of the cellular processes associated with aging — shortening of telomeres and cellular senescence. It used hyperbaric oxygen, given daily over a period of months, and the effects appear to be large.

It's possible that the result will turn out to be mistaken — the confidence intervals for the various effects include zero, although most of them are significantly positive. It is also possible that the experiment is changing the cellular markers and not whatever underlying biology they are associated with.

The obvious next things to do are to repeat the experiment, ideally with more subjects and varying the procedure, and to observe the subjects of the first experiment to see whether physical effects of aging are being reduced.

But if it's real, it's huge, since the experimental results are for humans, not mice, the procedure should be easy to duplicate at relatively low cost, and we ought to have much clearer results in only a few more years. I've been saying for a long time that the cure for aging will probably come in time for my children but not for me, but perhaps I was wrong.

I would be interested in comments from anyone here with relevant expertise.

4 comments:

Albert said...

You should read a review that adds a bit of perspective.

https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/11/overhyping-the-effects-of-hyperbaric-oxygen-treatment-on-aging/

Mitch said...

Do people at sea level live longer than people at higher altitude?

Benjamin Cole said...

If you cut off the oxygen entirely, the person will die rather quickly. Ergo....

Daniel Lemire said...

It is impossible to tell at this stage what it means, but note that there are many competing approach. The Conboys have been making progress at high speed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32474458/