Whatever this is, it can not be
unique to Easter Island . Most important is that it reverses the
progress of Progeria which is a horrible disease in which a person rapidly ages
and soon dies from age related diseases.
This is the first hope even
offered that it may be at least countered, allowing the victim to lead a norm
al life. This is obviously no cure.
It is also the first protocol
that could be applied to normal human beings that promises to leave affected
cells in a better state. This is
obviously important in terms of life extension.
Repairing telomeres is unlikely to also eliminate damage while something
like this could well do so.
For Progeria sufferers, it is truly
the elixir of life and it remains to be seen if this holds true for the rest of
us.
Elixir of life discovered on Easter Island
A drug has been discovered which scientists believe can reverse the
effects of premature ageing and could extend human life by more than a decade.
Easter Island is one of the most remote places on Earth and found 2,000
miles off the coast of Chile
7:41AM BST 30 Jun 2011
Rapamycin, which has been nicknamed the “forever young” drug, was
created from a chemical found in the soil on Easter Island, one of the most
remote places on Earth and 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile
It was used in experiments on children suffering from
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), a rare genetic condition in which
ageing is hyper-accelerated and sufferers die of “old age” at around 12 years.
HGPS causes a dangerous process whereby a protein called progerin
builds up in every cell of the body, causing them to age prematurely.
Rapamycin cleaned the cells of progerin, which swept away the defects
and left healthy cells.
Researchers in the United States, who include Francis Collins, a
pioneering genetic scientist and collaborators from Harvard Medical School, are
expected to start looking at whether the drug could be used more widely,
after similarities between HGPS and the normal ageing process were uncovered.
No comments:
Post a Comment