Treat not old age, but diseases?
BIOCAD experts talked about possible ways to solve the problem of aging
The problem of aging takes the resources and mental efforts of humanity far away from the problems and solutions of real human longevity. This was stated in their reports by BIOCAD researchers Dmitry Madera and Alexander Karabelsky, speaking at the European popular science festival outdoor Geek Picnic in St. Petersburg and Moscow. According to experts, it is necessary to focus efforts on the fight against age-associated diseases, and not on the aging process.
In particular, after analyzing popular theories of aging, Dmitry Madera, head of the Department of Molecular Genetics at BIOCAD, showed the audience an obvious conclusion: aging is not a program that can be reprogrammed, but the result of the accumulation of errors at the level of the genome and molecular systems of cells, the end result of which is death. In most species of living organisms, the probability of death increases exponentially with age, but there are representatives of flora and fauna on earth who do not age, the years they have lived do not affect their chances of dying or surviving. In the end, they also die, but not from old age, but due to the constant probability of dying from natural causes or accidents.
Speaking with a report devoted to the practical aspects of the issue of longevity, the head of the Department of Advanced Research of BIOCAD Alexander Karabelsky, using the example of targeted therapy, showed why an attack on the target of a specific pathology is able to remove not even the symptoms, but the pathological process itself, and in the case of aging, this tool does not work. Using the examples of the company's recent developments, the checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibody blocking PD-1 and the antibody blocking cytokine interleukin-17, the scientist demonstrated how immunotherapy effectively solves the problem of inoperable and metastatic types of cancer, making the tumor "visible" to the immune system, and thereby disarming it, and how another highly specific monoclonal antibody can solve the problem of severe psoriasis, respectively.
"The aging process is a very ambiguous process with many types of manifestations," Alexander Karabelsky explained to the audience. – And very often, what is a biomarker of aging is both its cause and effect. In other words, there will never be a single prescription for treatment. We have technologies that allow us to influence certain targets in a sick body, but in the case of aging, we will have to influence several targets at once, work simultaneously with many manifestations and causes, which is extremely difficult, if in principle possible."
According to the scientist, the most effective way to curb aging is the so–called conscious aging, when a person leads a healthy lifestyle throughout his life, knows how to work with stress, all conditions are created in the country for the prevention and early diagnosis of diseases. At the same time, scientists should conduct a purposeful search for effective treatment of age-dependent diseases. Checkpoint inhibitors, a personalized approach to treatment, oncolytic viruses, and cell therapy should make it possible to transfer cancer to a chronic state that can be controlled. With the help of genetic technologies, modern medicine will be able to cope with neurodegeneration, macular degeneration and other manifestations of aging. By developing methods of tissue engineering, humanity may be able to solve the problems of organ failure and even appearance. "By purposefully dealing with the problem of aging, rather than developing ways to treat specific pathological conditions, we are moving away from solving the problem of increasing the duration of healthy life of people," Alexander Karabelsky summed up.
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