A mix of three well-known medicines not only slows down, but reverses the aging processes. It is the conclusion of one studio just published in Nature e Biomedical.
Nine people benefited for a year from an aging-reversing treatment of a growth hormone and two anti-diabetes drugs in a University of California trial.
At the end of the treatment cycle, according to studies, patients "recovered" a biological age that was 2.5 years younger.
Here too I intrude to throw water on the fire: the results are there and are confirmed, but the group of tests is made up of Caucasians only and a second comparison test is missing to better contextualize the results of the research.
For many, the topic ofimmortality it is the holy grail of both futurism and medicine.
Even those who don't have the slightest intention of living forever, the idea of being able to live without the ravages of time still sounds much better than living longer but with the thousand ailments of old age.
In terms of length and quality of life, our body's ability to stay fit at a cellular and molecular level is more important than the age on the documents.
How is the shape measured?
Scientists measure biological aging by looking at something called the “epigenetic clock.” One of the main measurement methods was developed by a co-author of the study, Dr Steve horvath of the University of California.
This method looks in depth at the changes expressed by DNA. As we age, a whole series of chemical markers called 'methyls' bind to DNA molecules.
These changes do not alter the DNA sequence, but can damage the way a section of the genetic code can be turned on or off, or interfere with other biological processes.
Multiple factors influence this degradation (called methylation and concerning many organs and tissues, including the vital gland called Thyme) and the more the body goes towards decay.
Thyme
In particular, the Thymus gland functions a bit like a "master" for white blood cells, which contribute greatly to the immune system. White blood cells come to life from the bone marrow, but it is through the Thymus that white blood cells enter their final form, becoming T lymphocytes capable of keeping cancer and other infections at bay.
Thyme begins to degrade with age, together with the collapse of growth hormone levels. Previous animal research suggests that the administration of growth hormones protects and restores all or part of the activity of the thymus.
The research
For this reason, Dr Gregory Fahy, collaborator of Dr Horvath, immunologist and co-founder of Intervene Immune, recruited 9 Caucasian males aged between 51 and 65. He did it so that they could take the hormone Dehydroepiandrosterone, for his friends DHEA.
Dr Fahy has already tested the activities of DHEA on himself to rejuvenate his Thymus in the 90s. He was faced with side effects such as the strong risk of diabetes. For this reason he proceeded by "correcting" the treatment with two anti-diabetic drugs and periodically checking the state of health of his Timo.
I expected a slowing of the epigenetic clock, not a reversal.
Dr Steve Horvath, in an interview in 2014 on Nature
At the end of the test, 7 of the 9 participants saw the total disappearance of fats around the gland, replaced by healthy tissue. The epigenetic clock analysis gave even more astonishing results: all patients had far fewer markers than they had at the beginning.
Biologically speaking, they were 2 and a half years younger.
