Gene Editing Could Be The Key To Slow Down Aging
Biotech research is now focused on using gene editing and artificial intelligence to slow down aging. Would you slow down the aging process if you could? Learn about the new advancements below!
Like it or not, you’re getting older. Eventually, you’ll deal with aching joints, reading glasses and the diminishing health that come with advanced years.
Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to grow old. Besides electric wheelchairs, pacemakers and artificial joints, researchers are looking at using biotech to extend life and make aging easier. Of course, even gene editing can’t solve all problems, and how to treat aging is a particularly complicated topic.
There’s been some debate among medical practitioners as to how to classify aging, much less treat it. In a 2015 article, Dr. Sven Bulterijs, et al, wrote, “As aging appropriately fits the definition of disease, there is a shifting consensus that aging should be seen as a disease process in itself, and not a benign progression of age that increases the risk of disease.”
This statement argues that classifying aging as a disease allows more research to focus on the process directly, potentially leading to new treatments. Others argue that diseases can be cured, while aging is a natural bodily process, even if it is terminal.
To clarify, nobody actually dies of old age. It’s just that aging is accompanied by an increased susceptibility to factors like illness, heart disease and injury. Proponents of this argument also say that since aging affects people so differently, it’s better to treat it on an individual basis.
It’s certainly true that while everybody ages, everybody ages differently. The rate at which people age is affected by lifestyle choices, such as diet and exercise, but is also affected by predetermined genetic factors. More than that, a person’s genetics will influence what parts of their body are most likely to deteriorate as they age, be it their liver, heart or immune system.
Historically, this has made treating some aspects of aging complicated, as it can be difficult to predict how a person’s genetic makeup will affect their health as they grow older. Family medical history can aid in diagnosis, but it’s not infallible. Methods like whole genome sequencing can help identify potential genetic causes for aging-related complications like dementia or heart disease, but can’t treat them directly. Fortunately, researchers have begun to use gene editing and AI to do even more.
Biotech company Profluent recently announced that they used AI to design CRISPR-like gene editors to edit DNA in human cells. According to their research, some of these gene editors are more accurate than SpCas9, a widely used gene editing effector. These editors could be used not only to treat aging-related diseases, like hearing loss or heart disease, but to treat cellular aspects of aging, such as cell death, DNA damage, and telomere shortening. This means that the actual process of aging, rather than the symptoms associated with it, could be slowed.
Naturally, such a course of treatment is still a while off, and even if it were available, people would need to decide to take it. I spoke with my grandmothers, Mildred (age 94) and Elaine (age 84), to determine if they would be willing to slow the aging process if they could. They said no. “At this point in life, that isn’t necessary,” Mildred said. “It’s the process of living, how much farther do I have to go?” Elaine, when asked if she would have taken it 20 years ago, said maybe, but “I would have to do some research before I took it.”
It seems that the introduction of a gene-editing treatment wouldn’t just be stalled by the research time or the approval process, but also the all-important step of public acceptance. I think acceptance depends in part on whether or not you view aging as an illness. Both my grandmothers said that aging was just a part of life, and I have to agree with them. I might take a gene-editing treatment for aging, but I would want it to be well-vetted. More importantly, I would want to be able to start said treatment before I experienced the wrinkles that come with aging.
Best,
Grace for the Don’t Count Us Out Yet Team