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Publish Date: Friday,21 May, 2010, at 12:53 PM Doha Time
'Turning back the clock' on ageing
By Kate Kelland/London
Is ageing a disease? It's clear that the simple fact of growing older -
chronological ageing - is relentless and unstoppable. But experts studying the
science of ageing say it's time for a fresh look at the biological process -
one which recognises it as a condition that can be manipulated, treated and
delayed.
Taking this new approach would turn the search for drugs to fight age-related
diseases on its head, they say, and could speed the path to market of drugs
that treat multiple illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer's at
the same time.
"If ageing is seen as a disease, it changes how we respond to it. For example,
it becomes the duty of doctors to treat it," said David Gems, a
biogerontologist who spoke at a conference on ageing in London last week called
"Turning Back the Clock".
At the moment, drug companies and scientists keen to develop their research on
ageing into tangible results are hampered by regulators in the US and Europe
who will licence medicines only for specific diseases, not for something as
general as ageing.
"Because ageing is not viewed as a disease, the whole process of bringing drugs
to market can't be applied to drugs that treat ageing. This creates a
disincentive to pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs to treat it," said
Gems.
The ability of humans to live longer and longer lives is being demonstrated in
abundance across the world.Average life expectancies extended by as much as 30
years in developed countries during the 20th century and experts expect the
same or more to happen again in this century.
A study published last year by Danish researchers estimated that more than half
of all babies born in wealthy nations since the year 2000 will live to see
their 100th birthdays.
But with greater age comes a heavier burden of age-related disease.Cases of
dementia and Alzheimer's, incurable brain-wasting conditions, are expected to
almost double every 20 years to around 66mn in 2030 and over 115mn in
2050.Diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and the cost of coping with them in
ageing populations, are also set to rise dramatically in coming decades in rich
and poor countries alike.
Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University
in New York, says one way of trying to face down this enormous burden of
disease is to look at the biggest risk factor common to all of them -
ageing."There's one thing everybody is missing," he said. "Ageing is common for
all of these diseases - and yet we're not investigating the common mechanism
for all of them. We are just looking at the specific diseases."
To try to reverse that, Barzilai and many other scientists around the world are
studying the genes of the very old and starting to find the genetic mechanisms,
or pathways, that help them beat off the dementias, cancers, heart diseases and
other age-related illnesses that bring down others who die younger.
By finding the genes thought to help determine longevity, scientists think they
may be able to mimic their action to not only extend life span, but, crucially,
extend health span."It is ... looking increasingly likely that pharmacological
manipulation of these ... pathways could form the basis of new preventative
medicines for diseases ageing, and ageing itself," said Andrew Dillin of the
Salk Institute in California and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Gems says institutional and ideological barriers are standing in the way - and
a major one is the longstanding traditional view that ageing is not a disease,
but a natural, benign process that should not be interfered with. - Reuters
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