Can We Beat Death?
Humans constantly like to remind each other that life eventually ends. We have life expectancies of around 80, maybe 90 years if we are lucky. Some people are living all the way up to age 116! If we examine why the human life ends, it always comes out to two causes: injury or illness. Whether it’s in a car accident as a teenager or a long battle with cancer, death is inevitable. However, what if we took away those two factors? What if no catastrophe happened? What if disease and injury never struck? What if we never had any sort of disastrous event and medicine advanced enough to fight off every disease? Would our bodies be able to live on and on? Newer generations have seen a massive increase in life expectancy, especially in well-developed countries. Will medical innovations continue to sustain us? What is the limit to human existence?
Two hypotheses which shine a light on the mechanisms of cell death are the ideas surrounding telomere shortening and free radical damage. Both ideas center around the genetic and cellular level of body disintegration.
Telomeres are present in every one of our cells. They are located inside the nucleus, on either ends of our chromosomes. They are similar to caps which encompass and protect the chromosomes. However, the problem with these telomeres is that they shorten every time the cell reproduces. This shortening interferes with the telomere’s ability to function as a cap. Over time, as the cell reproduces over and over, the telomeres get smaller and smaller. This telomere shortening is the main cause of age-related breakdown of our cells. Over time, cells with essentially non-existent telomeres will die off, causing our tissues to degenerate and shut down as the cell count dwindles. Cells that reproduce more often, such as those in the hair follicles, skin, and immune system, are particularly susceptible to telomere shortening since cell replication happens so much more often. This is part of the reason why the telltale signs of aging are hair loss, wrinkles, and low immunity.
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The shortening of telomeres is as if a candle is burning at each end of our chromosomes, and scientists are desperately attempting to blow it out. One path that scientists are using in order to slow down and even stop this shortening is by utilizing an enzyme called telomerase, which slows down telomere breakdown. This enzyme is found in high quantity within the body in young children, which would explain why children show no signs of cellular degeneration. However, the volume of telomerase declines as we get older. Scientists believe that exposing humans to telomerase could maintain and even lengthen telomeres. This would consequently slow aging and allow cells to reproduce abundantly again.
Dr. Helen Blau of the Stanford University School of Medicine has been working on a way to use telomerase to extend telomeres. She is using modified-RNA strands which encode for telomerase. The work began once researchers discovered that young men with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy in fact had shorter telomeres than those of boys within the same age group without the genetic disease. Currently, the modified RNA has been successful in extending the life spans of cells in culture, and these lab cells are now being used in other long term experiments since they have no risk of eventual degeneration. Dr. Blau is hesitant to translate these cells to human beings for fear of cancer-related complications since these cells will be more prone to replicating indefinitely. She hopes that the application of telomerase exposure could have more practical uses for age-related disorders such as heart disease and diabetes. Telomerase may allow us to take advantage of our bodies cells for much longer.
Another theory related to natural degeneration of the body revolves around the study of free radicals. The general idea of this theory focusses on the extremely intriguing question: Is oxygen slowly poisoning us? It all begins with cellular respiration. We breathe in oxygen in order to create ATP. The body does this through a long and complicated process of steps, but the relevant part is that, in order to obtain energy to make ATP, the cells rips off energized electrons from oxygen and glucose. When this occurs, the particle is thrown out of balance. Electrons travel in pairs, so when one is ripped off, the lonely electron desperately attempts to find another partner. They achieve this by ripping an electron off of another particle, which creates another free radical. This snowballs into a chain reaction until two free radicals combine with each other. However, before that happens, the erratic electrons cause molecular havoc. They cause damage to RNA, proteins, enzymes, and genetic material. The repeated genetic damage could erupt into cancer, collisions with artery walls could lead to blood clots and heart attacks, and the demolition of brain cells can lead to premature senility.
The solution to all this comes in the form of antioxidants, a group of chemicals that neutralizes free radicals. They are especially prevalent in plants, which is why the term antioxidant seems so familiar. One exciting new discovery which is being studied at Duke University by Dr. Irwin Fredovich is the free radical named Superoxide and its paired antioxidant, Superoxide dismutase. This antioxidant is not ingested, but is produced by the body itself. This could lead to further innovation regarding the body perhaps producing its own antioxidants to combat free radicals. Overall, if we can stop free radicals from wreaking havoc in the body, the body will no longer have to recover from constant attacks which eventually lead to the breakdown of body systems once the body is too weak to fight back.
While these ideas are in no way the only factors controlling the duration of human life, they are two important players. As science continues to evolve and advance, human life should theoretically continue to extend and extend. Just in the last 100 years, life expectancy has gone from around 50 years old in 1900 to almost 80 years old in 2011. If this trend continues, it will not be rare to live past age 100 within the next 50 years. Nursing homes will be full, children will have great-great-great grandparents, and the population size will increase exponentially. Now, the next question that human beings need to tackle is:
Do we even want to live for that long?
Works Cited
"Antioxidants: In Depth." NIH, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
"Blau Lab." Blau Lab. Stanford University Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Conger, Krista. "Telomere Extension Turns Back Aging Clock in Cultured Human Cells, Study Finds." News Center. N.p., 22 Jan. 1970. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Kotulak, Peter Gorner Ronald. "The Hottest Theory On The Reversal Of Aging -- The Oxygen We Breathe May Slowly Be Killing US." The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
"Life Expectancy at Birth." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
@tasciences65. "Telomeres and Aging - Telomere Shortening - T.A. Sciences®." T.A. Sciences®. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
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