How to engineer negligible senescence in humans – part VII OncoSENS

What is the number one disease killing our elders besides heart disease?

Cancer.

A dreadful word that conjures all sorts of evil things, cancer runs rampant as we age.

 

What do all cancers have in common?

 

They start from one (or several) nuclear mutation(s). In the case of lifestyle non-inherited cancers the disease starts from epimutations. Compared to mitochondrial mutations, nuclear ones take place at a far slower rate and most of the time they are inoffensive with one exception: cancer.

The War on Cancer was started by President Nixon in 1971 and although we did accomplish major progresses in its diagnosis and treatment, cancer still exists and most importantly, it still kills.

What makes cancer cells so resistant to medical treatment is that they undergo natural selection and you can’t outsmart evolution.

 

What do all cancer cells need?

• a serious supply of glucose – I wonder whether that’s why I often see diabetes and cancer in the same patient, although I haven’t looked for literature in this regard
• a good network of blood vessels which they produce de novo through the many vascular growth factors they secrete
• telomerase for being able to divide forever

 

While 90% of cancer cells switch on the telomerase gene for becoming immortal, 10% of them lengthen their telomeres through a lesser-known phenomenon called Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT).

 

The hope of oncology research is to find solutions to:

1. either deactivate telomerase
2. delete the telomerase gene altogether

 

How can OncoSENS contribute to fighting cancer?

Through their daily clinical practice all oncologists prolong life or at least improve its quality as much as possible. In order not to duplicate efforts, OncoSENS focuses on stopping cancer in its tracks by studying the cancer cells which turn on telomerase the alternative way – a part largely neglected by mainstream oncology.

Because cancer cells need telomerase to divide, shuting it down or deleting it altogether is a strategy that is bound to change the treatment of this disease – a couple of years have passed since I studied oncology in medical school and I don’t remember learning about this strategy at that time.

It’s seductively simple in theory but it takes much effort, time and money to put it in (clinical) practice!

 

We have now reached the end of the SENS series, a project started by an engineer who rejuvenated gerontology – the science of aging – dr. Aubrey de Grey.

Here are the main types of aging damage – and the corresponding solving strategies:

1. Mitochondrial mutations – MitoSENS

2. Intracellular junk – LysoSENS

3. Extracellular junk – AmyloSENS

4. Extracellular crosslinks – GlycoSENS

5. Cell senescence – ApoptoSENS

6. Cell loss and atrophy – RepleniSENS

7. Cancer-causing nuclear (epi)mutations – OncoSENS

The work it will take to make aging a forgotten memory is long. Here is what you can do today no matter where you are:

1. take care of your body – with the current state of science you won’t get a second one
2. if you are a patient already, don’t rely on your doctor only to take care of you. Get informed, establish a dedicated association for your disease (unless one doesn’t exist already) and lobby for efficient research and treatment.
3. support people and institutions – including the SENS Foundation – that do research which matters for you and your family

Bibliography:

“Ending aging” by Aubrey de Grey (link)

Anca Ioviţă is the author of Eat Less Live Longer: Your Practical Guide to Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition available on Amazon and several other places. If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to sign up to receive updates on her second book regarding a comparative biography of aging from the simplest to the most complex organisms known.