the ageing summit - london 2016
TRANSCRIPT
Translating laboratory anti-ageing biotechnology into clinical practice
Marios KyriazisELPIs Foundation for Indefinite Lifespans, UK
Two AspectsPharmaceuticals and biotechnology can treat degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, osteoarthritis or cardiovascular disease
Disruptive biotechnologies may enable us to repair age-related damage – but can these eliminate ageing, with a dramatic extension of healthy lifespan? No.
Important difference!• Here I discuss the problems of therapeutic interventions directed at
the basic biological process of ageing.
• The discussion is not about individual clinical age-related degenerative disease.
Negligible Senescence = the rate of human mortality due to age is negligible
It would be almost impossible to radically extend lifespan and achieve a state of Negligible Senescence, solely by using these ‘repair-only’ biotechnological methodologies
The Goal of Biotechnology is the End of Death
Laboratory research may appear promising, but when it comes to applying the results of this research on real patients in the community,
then a host of new problems arise
• Kyriazis M, Apostolides A. The Fallacy of the Longevity Elixir: Negligible Senescence May be Achieved, but Not by Using Something Physical. Curr Aging Sci. 2015;8(3):227-34. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26135528
• Kyriazis M. The impracticality of biomedical rejuvenation therapies: translational and pharmacological barriers. Rejuvenation Res. 2014 Aug;17(4):390-6. doi: 10.1089/rej.2014.1588. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072550
• Kyriazis M. Translating laboratory anti-aging biotechnology into applied clinical practice: Problems and obstacles. World J Transl Med. Aug 12, 2015; 4(2): 51-5. http://www.wjgnet.com/2220-6132/full/v4/i2/51.htm
Bone marrow transplant (stem cells)
Worldwide: 60 thousand BMT performed each year.
If we assume that a minimum 1% of all humans could possibly be treated with marrow transplant-dependent rejuvenation biotechnologies each year, then there will be a need to provide 70 million such transplants a year!
Even increasing the current rate, it will take us 10 years to reach 1 million patients
The procedures would need to be repeated, in order to maintain the status quo.
We would only be able to treat a total maximum of 0.015% of humans, ever.
Another Example
Tissue engineering • The technology necessary for
developing large amounts of viable engineered tissue can be achieved. • BUT we need to transplant this
engineered tissue in humans. • Lifelong immunosuppression.
Other tissues??• The entire procedure would need to
be repeated for other types of tissue, until all tissues affected by age-related damage is repaired. • How many qualified surgeons needed
in order to carry out these procedures? • Medical assessments, risk of infection
or thromboembolism, and other complications of surgery
Genetic Therapies• Pre-existing immunity to the vector,
choice of vector, costs, dose, and many others need to be addressed. Non-viral vectors need to be administered to the patient via the intravenous route.• The new gene may not be inserted
correctly on the DNA, or it may be overexpressed, causing more problems than it resolves. • Risk of introducing infection or inducing
cancer.
Potential problems
NanomedicineEnvironmental impact remains unknown. The use of nanomaterials in bioengineering is being hampered by a host of unknown variables: unwanted neutrophil activation, vascular toxicity, inflammation, lipid peroxidation.
Nanomedicine in the present and near-term future remains problematic. There is little information about these new materials, and virtually no useful data on their bioaccumulation or toxicity.
Lack of timeOne cycle of treating one group of sub-clinical damages via disruptive biotechnologies may take two or three months. The same patient will need to undergo the procedure again for different organs.
There will not be enough months in the year for each patient in order to have the full treatment for each and every organ or tissue.
Other IssuesAlthough some therapies could be developed, these may not by themselves result in any benefit until other therapies have also been developed and deployed…..
For instance, if a therapy is devised against atherosclerosis but not against cancer, the patient will perish from cancer-related damage, even if their arteries are healthy
Patients would need to undertake other rejuvenation procedures • vaccinations, cytotoxic and other drugs or oral
compounds • multiple crosslink breakers • intravenous immunotherapy• apoptotic-modulators, and other treatment
modalities • This has to be repeated until all organs or tissues
where there is accumulation of age-related pathology have been treated.
• All of these procedures will need to be repeated on the same patient in perpetuity, to ensure a continual absence of age-related pathology for an indefinite time
The rest of humanity?The above discussion refers to the difficulties where we aim to treat just 10% of humanity spread over a 10 year period.
A fanciful delusion.
What about the difficulties associated with treating the other 90%?
Indefinite LifespanThis may happen as a result of a transition from evolution by natural selection to a state of gene-culture ‘co-evolution’ (or intentional evolution)
Our continuous integration within a techno-cultural environment may cause a shift in the allocation of repair resources from the germ-line to the soma, and thus promote a more effective somatic repair leading to a reduction of age-related degeneration. Humans who are well-integrated within a wider global ecosystem may be able to survive longer because their usefulness to the network is more important than their demise.
‘Small-world’, scale-free cellular networksConnections between cells. Most cells in this network weakly-connected cells whereas two (black) are strongly-connected cells.Damage to strongly-connected cells is going to affect huge parts of the network.
Man-computer ecosystem
Comparison with hyperconnected human
When the human dies, the network is disrupted
SummaryElimination of age-related degeneration may happen - but not through using a physical therapy.
Don’t wait for others to devise treatment. All of us need to take part.
