New studies out of Harvard and Stanford, in which researchers used blood transfusions to reverse the effects of aging in mice, are being heralded as bringing us one step closer to immortality:
Scientists previously demonstrated that the process of aging did not rid tissue of its stem cells. Therefore, these researchers set out to identify the signals, potentially carried in the blood, that could reinvigorate the dormant stem cells of elderly mice. … Evidence from a number of studies pointed to a protein called GDF11. Researchers found much more GDF11 in young mice blood and determined that treatment with this protein alone recapitulated some of the effects of the transfusions.
Scientists demonstrated the benefits of these “young blood infusions” in reversing aging effects in three different body systems. In muscles, young blood revived strength and endurance in old mice. In the heart, it reversed age-induced cardiac hypertrophy (enlargement of the heart). Recent findings now point to rejuvenating effects in the brain.
John Timmer explains why GDF11 is so promising for future research:
It should also be clear that a variety of evidence is building in favor of GDF11 being a general factor that promotes youthful behavior in a variety of tissues. None of the findings on their own would be earth-shattering, but there’s now a large collection of incremental results that paint a pretty compelling picture.
That picture is generally good news, too. GDF11 is part of a large family of signaling molecules (the TGF-ß superfamily) that is extremely well studied. (It’s so well studied that you can order a tiny batch of 98 percent pure human GDF11 that was made in bacteria for as little as $80.) So following up on this work won’t mean starting from scratch with a mystery molecule that no one understands.
If it’s so easy to make GDF11, could places offering injections be far off in the future? Probably not, but we’re a long way from the sort of evidence that would make that a safe, approved therapy for the declines of aging. It’s possible for GDF11 to have both positive and negative effects on a variety of tissues.
Jesus Diaz notes that there really doesn’t appear to be much of a catch to this good news:
There’s only two caveats. The first is that these are experiments with mice. They still have to be tested in humans, who have their own version of GDF11. It will probably work in the same way, but we don’t know for sure yet. The second one is cancer. The moment you start awakening stem cells and telling them to start creating new cells, you may increase the possibilities of cancer. Honestly, I would rather take the chance of cancer than the certainty of dementia or early death because of some heart disease.
That’s why scientists are so excited. The results are clear and there are no conflicts between the two studies, so this is wonderful news so far, they say.
Michael Byrne meditates on how discoveries like these may change the way we think about old age:
If a whole range of diseases are the result of declining GDF11 levels in the body, then it’s not really hard to imagine a disease that just is the decline itself. It’d be one big package of pathologies under one generalized roof, like, say, hypothyroidism, an illness sometimes known as the “great imitator” because it encompasses symptoms and syndromes associated with about every illness ever. Treating it, meanwhile, is just a matter of upping the levels of one hormone in the blood. You might imagine GDF11 deficiency in a similar light, except of course that age happens to everyone.
Society hasn’t really found an “OK” way to die. “Old age” is about the closest we have, and there’s not actually such a thing as dying of old age. People die of aging-related diseases, like the two mentioned above, but also cancer and even just getting the flu as an old person. Bodies get worn down by time because that’s what time does; GDF11 would seem like a way of not buying extra time, but of resetting the clock in general, erasing age and, most strangely, erasing time. Which is where it gets ominous, if vaguely so: the clock itself as the disease.
Walter Russell Mead quips:
Over the years boomers have sucked millennials dry financially in all sorts of ways: by promoting policies that shifted wealth towards them and away from the young; by resisting reform to entitlement programs; by hogging all the job growth; and by supporting reductions in spending that benefits the young (like aid to public colleges).
Now they could be out for millennials’ blood. Young people don’t expect to be looking up the local blood bank instead of the local job bank. But since they’ve got nothing in the bank, maybe it’s worth considering a new way to pay off those college loans.
The Dish 