In 1986, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury asked a pretty simple question: Who wants to live forever?
And, if all goes to plan, we could all soon be doing just that. Scientists are, for the first time, testing a drug which could reverse the stubborn ageing process on a human.
Boston-based longevity company Life Biosciences announced Tuesday it had injected the drug into the eyes of a patient suffering from glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damage your optic nerve, causing your vision to deteriorate.
What the drug, called ER-100, hopes to do is reverse this deterioration by persuading genes that can ‘reprogram’ old cells to behave young.
Life Biosciences says this technique, known as cellular reprogramming, could also one day be used on an ageing liver or brain.
This could, longevity scientists hope, pave the way for a pill that could melt away wrinkles or perk us up to feel like children again.
How does the drug work?
In 2007, scientist and surgeon Shinya Yamanaka found that four unusual genes that are active in early embryonic development, the ‘Yamanaka Factors’, tell cells to go wrinkly and grey.
Yamanaka’s experiment, which won the Nobel Prize in 2012, saw him introduce these genes to the skin cells of an old mouse.
Over two weeks, the cells essentially walked backwards through time and became something close to embryonic stem cells.
Later studies found that if you reprogramme all four of these genes, they revert to stem cells, which are blank sheets, so not too useful.
Tinker with three, though, and they become youthful and resilient while still maintaining their role in the body.
ER-100 targets these three genes in neurons – cells which transmit nerve impulses – in the optic nerve that grow tired and can’t regenerate.
By manipulating the cells’ genes, scientists turn back the clock and they become similar to stem cells, spritely blobs that can repair injuries.
This ‘resets’ the neurons, making them ‘more youthful and functional’, according to Life Biosciences.
The company did not share any other information about the patient, with National Library of Medicine records showing the study began in March.
Over the next six months, scientists will be watching to see how well the technique works and see if any health issues arise.
Throughout, the patient will take an antibiotic pill akin to an on/off switch for the drug – if they stop taking it, the reprogramming will stop.
Clinics in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles and Charleston are recruiting patients to join Life Biosciences’ trial, with 20 patients slated.
The Phase 1 clinical trial, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, will finish by 2033 at the latest.
The company’s co-founder, David Sinclair, said in 2020 that his team hit the rewind switch for the neurons of elderly mice with damaged optic nerves.
Sinclair, who theorised that the first person who will live to be 150 has already been born, however, has been criticised for ‘overhyping’ his findings.
Writing on X on Tuesday of the trial, he said: ’30 years of research came down to one moment. Was honored to be there. Congrats to the team!’
Could we really live forever?
Billionaires, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, have invested billions into the idea of extending their lives.
After all, all humans have actually aged backwards.
Women carry egg cells from birth, while sperm cells are often several months old by the time they’re let loose into the world.
So when these two meet and form a zygote – the cellular step one in becoming life – its cells actually show signs of age.
Yet, somehow, the zygote’s cells iron out the wrinkles of the parents’ DNA and become young – well, as young as you can ever be.
Scientists have spent decades trying to replicate this process, called natural rejuvenation, in the lab to unlock the secrets to eternal youth.
But attempts at this sci-fi-sounding idea of full-body rejuvenation have so far been limited to animals like mice and monkeys.
As well as reversing ageing, experts hope that mastering cellular rejuvenation could help us cure diseases.
But critics say that longevity science is overhyped and fear that cellular reprogramming can lead to cancer, given that two of the genes instruct cells to replicate forever.
Tests involving mice in 2012, for example, have ended with the rodents developing teratomas – tumours made of scraps of tissues like hair, teeth and skin.
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