An intriguing article, "Purging the body of 'retired' cells could reverse ageing," published in the Guardian, reconsiders the question: "Can aging be stopped and or reversed? The articles suggest that recent scientific advances suggest that purging retired cells from the body can reverse the ravages of old age. New research raises the prospects of new life-extending treatments, and preventative therapies resulting from sweeping away dormant cells, :senescent cells" that fail to divide genetically due to age, but create mischievous and malicious health impacts as they persis and build-up in an aging body.
The article reads as follows:
When mice were treated with a substance designed to sweep away cells that have entered a dormant state due to DNA damage their fur regrew, kidney function improved and they were able to run twice as far as untreated elderly animals.
The team are now assessing whether the mice also live longer and are planning a series of safety studies in humans with the ultimate goal of testing whether getting rid of so-called senescent cells could help reverse a range of age-related disorders.
The discovery adds to a wave of new findings hinting at the possibility of a future in which doctors can treat ageing itself, rather than trying to combat the host of diseases that come along with it.
Such a scenario is now supported by science, according to Peter de Keizer, the 36-year-old scientist who led the latest work at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “Maybe when you get to 65 you’ll go every five years for your anti-senescence shot in the clinic. You’ll go for your rejuvenation shot,” he said. “That I can envision when we reach that age.”
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