Lifespan: Why We Age - And Why We Don't Have To

Front 1

What percentage of people live to be over 100 and how will they change with children born today?

Back 1

0.02% but half of the children born today will be over 100.

Front 2

What is the theory of the origin of life?

Back 2

Water pools accumulated next to large thermal vents and were covered in organic compounds. When these dissolved in pools of warm water, the nucleic acids concentrate and grow into polymers, like salt crystals from the ocean. This is primitive RNA. They become encapsulated by fatty acids to form the first cell membranes. They evolve metabolic pathways and begin to copy themselves

Front 3

Where does aging come from?

Back 3

Gene A turns off reproduction and Gene B shuts off gene A while the cell is repaired, so that the cell can make copies of itself when repair is done and the offspring will survive.

Front 4

What are oncogenes?

Back 4

Genes that cause cancer

Front 5

How does the immune system kill cancer?

Back 5

Immune T-cells continually patrol our body, looking for rogue cells to identify and kill before they can multiply into a tumor. But rogue cancer cells evolve ways to fool cancer-detecting T-cells so they can go on happily multiplying. The latest and most effective immunotherapies bind to proteins on the cancer cells’ surface. It is the equivalent of taking the invisible cloak off cancer cells so T-cells can recognize and kill them. Fewer than 10 percent of all cancer patients currently benefit from immunotherapy.

Front 6

What is the "Disposable Soma Hypothesis"?

Back 6

It is based on the fact that there are always limited resources available to species—energy, nutrients, water. They therefore evolve to a point that lies somewhere between two very different lifestyles: breed fast and die young, or breed slowly and maintain your soma, or body. Organisms can’t breed fast and maintain a robust, healthy body—there simply isn’t enough energy to do both. Stated another way, in the history of life, any line of creature with a mutation that caused it to live fast and attempt to die old soon ran out of resources and was thus deleted from the gene pool.

Front 7

What are current theories behind aging?

Back 7

Aging could be caused by DNA damage and a loss of genetic information (however this doesn't explain all symptoms), mutations in genes due to copying errors, or damage by unpaired electrons via oxidation in mitochondria (this has been disproven as mitochondria can be revived).

Front 8

Does an antioxidant rich diet work?

Back 8

Science has demonstrated that the positive health effects are caused by stimulating the body's natural defences against aging by boosting enzymes to remove free radicals rather than as an actual antioxidant

Front 9

Do clones live shorter lives?

Back 9

It is a myth that cloned animals live shorter lives. It was perpetuated by Dolly the sheep, who only had half the expected lifespan. Her remains showed no signs of advanced aging, and that she actually died from a progressive lung disease.

Front 10

What are the recognised cellular symptoms of aging?

Back 10

The hallmarks of aging are: stem cell exhaustion, deregulated nutrient sensing, loss of proteostasis (stabilising a set of proteins), altered intercellular communication, telomere attrition, cellular senescence (loss of ability to divide), genomic instability, mitochondrial dysfunction, epigenetics alterations (changes to a gene sequence). If one is addressed it might slow aging, addressing all might stop aging.

Front 11

What is Sinclair's theory about how to stop ageing?

Back 11

Sinclair's thoery is that repairs can be made to the epigenome (the software that tells newly divided cells what to be). Cells retain the information provided, and therefore can theoretically be replaced.

Front 12

What are sirtuins?

Back 12

Sirtuins are longevity genes and are made by nearly every cell. They essentially trade reproduction for repair and protect us from the major diesases of aging. They are used in research because they are amenable to manipulation (there are others)

Front 13

What is hormesis?

Back 13

The idea that longevity genes can be activated by exposure to hot and cold temps, intermittent fasting, and certain types of exercise.

Front 14

How important is yeast in the field of genetics research?

Back 14

Five Nobel prizes came from studying yeast for genetic studies as they are very complex and similar to humans.

Front 15

How did studying yeast lead to Sinclair's hypothesis of aging?

Back 15

Sinclair discovered that broken DNA causes genome instability, which activates the Sir2 protein (a sirtuins) . This changes the epigenome, causing the cells to lose their identity and become sterile.

Front 16

Why does cancer spread so rapidly?

Back 16

Cancer cells contain an enzyme called telomerase that rebuilds cells telomeres, meaning the cells can reproduce indefinielty.

Front 17

How can DNA be edited?

Back 17

There are gene editing tools such as CRISPR which are essentially parasites that copy themselves. If it cuts a sime mould, it inserts itself and continues to self regulate. In other human cells, it simply cuts DNA without leaving mutations, which is useful for engaging the sirtuins (the repair genes).

Front 18

How much does smoking decrease your lifespan?

Back 18

Smoking ages life on average by 15 years

Front 19

How can scientists age mice artificially?

Back 19

Scientists have been able to artificially age mice by breaking the DNA in certain places using the I-Ppo-I gene, turning it on with a modified estrogen blocker. This induces a sirtuin response and therefore, aging. Mice can be aged without touching telomeres, mitochondria, or stem cells

Front 20

What is the SRT test?

Back 20

A measure of how quickly can you go from sitting to standing in one movement. Without worrying about the speed of movement, try to sit and then to rise from the floor, using the minimum support that you believe is needed." The maximum possible score on the SRT is 10 points: a possible total of 5 points for sitting down, and 5 points for rising from the floor to a standing position. Use of a hand, forearm, knee, or the side of the leg to press up from the ground—or bracing a hand on the knee—each result in a deduction of one point. The minimum possible score is 0 points. An additional 0.5 points is deducted if the evaluator perceives an unsteady execution or partial loss of balance. If the subject loses points on the first few attempts, the evaluator provides advice to help them improve their score on subsequent tries. The best scores for sitting and rising are used to determine the final score. Of an age group of 51 - 80, 157 out of 159 people that scored poorly died within 75 months.

Front 21

What is a DALY score?

Back 21

Disability Adjusted Life Year - measures the years of life lost from both premature death or poor state of health. Russia is 25, USA is 23, Israel is 10

Front 22

What is the most effective way to increase lifespan that anyone can do?

Back 22

Limiting calories is the most effective way to increase lifespan and healthspan

Front 23

How does temperature affect lifespan?

Back 23

An experiment showed that manipulating a mouse's hypothalamus to believe it was 1 degree colder led to a longer lifespan by 20%

Front 24

What is the French Paradox?

Back 24

France has low heart disease rates despite having diets high in saturated fats. A theory behind this is resveratrol - a molecule found in red wine. It is produced by plants in times of stress.

Front 25

What is Metformin?

Back 25

A diabetic drug derived from plants. A mice trial showed 25/26 protection from cancer (as it mimics calorie restriction). It slows down the process of our mitochondria converting macronutrients into energy. It also decreases many other illnesses associated with aging. The FDA has agreed to treat aging as a treatable condition if a metformin study can show that it has measurable benefits to slow aging

Front 26

What is rapamycin?

Back 26

A microorganism was discovered on Easter Island that secreted a antifungal compound (rapamycin). Initially, it was to be used to treat Athlete's Foot, however it drastically lowered immunity. Instead, it was used for organ transplants and to decrease rejection

Front 27

What is leucine?

Back 27

Leucine, for instance, is well known to boost muscle, which is why it’s found in large quantities in the protein drinks. But that muscle building is coming in part because leucine is activating mTOR, which essentially calls out to your body, In the long run, however, protein drinks may be preventing the mTOR pathway from providing its longevity benefits. Studies in which leucine is completely eliminated from a mouse’s diet have demonstrated that just one week without this particular amino acid significantly reduces blood glucose levels

Front 28

What are zombie cells?

Back 28

Senescent cells (zombie cells) release proteins called cytokines that cause inflammation and attract immune cells to attack the tissue. They can cause other cells to become senescent and cause tumors to spread

Front 29

What is antagonistic pleiotropy?

Back 29

Antagonistic pleiotropy is the idea that a survival mechanism that is good for us when we are young is kept through evolution because this far outweighs any problems caused when we get older.

Front 30

What are senolytics?

Back 30

Senolytics are a class of pharmaceuticals being developed that can be used up to kill zombie cells

Front 31

What are Yamanaka genes?

Back 31

Four combinations of genes that could induce adult cells to become pluripotent stem cells - immature cells that can be coaxed into becoming any other type of cell.

Front 32

How will genomic information affect the future of medication?

Back 32

Eventually, every drug will be included in a huge and ever-expanding database of pharmacogenetic effects. It won’t be long before prescribing a drug without first knowing a patient’s genome will seem medieval.And vitally, with genomic information aiding in our doctors’ decisions, we won’t have to wait to become sick to know what treatments will work best to prevent those diseases from developing in the first place.