Nov12
Telomere Length And Aging
on November 12, 2012 at 12:03 pmThere seems to be a correlation.
So what’s cause, and what’s effect, or are they both effects of some other cause?
Also, how much does it cost to determine one’s telomere length? And what are the prospects for increasing it, if that is indeed helpful?
T.A. Sciences has a list of doctors who will order telomere length measurement tests.
This is not an endorsement of their product.
http://singularityhub.com/2012/05/24/telomerase-gene-therapy-extends-lives-of-mice-by-up-to-24-percent/
The therapy extended the lifespans of mice by 24 percent and, at least so far, the therapy appears to be completely safe. Adding telomerase to human cells in culture allowed them to extend their lifespans by at least an extra 20 divisions. And mice genetically engineered to make telomerase lived 40 percent longer and showed improved glucose tolerance, coordination, and less inflammation compared to normal mice.
Isn’t this old news? If anybody wonders what ever happened to the cloning, anti-cloning hysteria, they can look up what the scientists involved with Dolly, the cloned sheep found. She died of old age after just a couple of years. Carl Zimmer, I think it was, wrote about telomeres and aging, years ago. They figured out how to grow new telomeres, but it also caused cancer.