Dr. David Sinclair and his colleagues at BIOMOL Research Labs, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA and the Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA have identified several naturally occurring compounds which can extend the life of yeast cells by 70% and protect, to certain extent, cultured human cells exposed to radiation (Howitz, K.T. et al., Nature 425:191-196, Sep. 11, 2003).

These compounds belong to a chemical group called polyphenols, known for their presence in grapes and red wine. Researchers screened several libraries of compounds and found 17 that could enhance the activity of SIRT1, a human deacetylase that enhances cell survival by deacetylating the ... Read more

Dr. Richard M. Cawthon and colleagues from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT have found for the first time in humans that the length of the telomere is related to longevity (Lancet 361:393-395, Feb. 1, 2003).

The researchers studied the telomere length from 143 individuals and their longevity. Study subjects of ages between 60 and 97 were generally healthy, unrelated individuals who donated their blood between 1982 and 1986.

They found that elderly individuals with longer telomeres lived five to six years longer than individuals with shorter telomeres. Those with shorter telomeres in blood DNA had a 3.18-fold higher mortality ... Read more

Researchers are zooming in on the molecules that dictate longevity. Longevity is more than the issue that people want to live longer, it is also for the fact that many diseases are related to the aging process such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and osteoporosis, to name a few. In recent years, a molecule (DAF-2) that is similar to the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) has been discovered capable of influencing lifespan in the microscopic worm C. elegans and fruitfly D. melanogaster. Dr. Martin Holzenberger and colleagues (Institut National de la Sante, Paris, France) have found that reducing the levels of ... Read more

Researchers have recently elucidated the 3-dimentional structure of telomerase, a molecule that plays a key role in such important areas as cancer, aging/longevity, immunology, and stem cells.

Each chromosome (containing a unit of the genome) has a telomere at each of its ends. Telomere, a stretch of DNA, protects the integrity and stability of the genome. A piece of telomere is “clipped” off each time a cell divides. Telomerase is the enzyme that makes more telomere to replenish the shortfall. When a person reaches adulthood, telomerase becomes inactive in most somatic cells (non-sex cells). Consequently, cells stop dividing and regeneration, and ... Read more