Editing One Gene Extends Mouse Life Expectancy by 23%

Modifying One Gene Allows Mice to Live 23% Longer

By modifying just one gene, researchers were able to extend the life expectancy of mice by 23%, and they think their results may translate to humans.

www.freethink.com

y modifying just one gene, an international team of researchers was able to extend the life expectancy of mice by 23% — and they think their results may translate to humans.

"The change in life expectancy is significant, when you consider that an equivalent jump in human life expectancy would have us living on average until almost 120," lead researcher Haim Cohen of Bar-Ilan University told the Times of Israel.

A longer life: The average human life expectancy has doubled in just the past 200 years, thanks in no small part to scientific breakthroughs in medicine, nutrition, and disease.

Future breakthroughs might allow us to live decades (or even centuries) longer, and across the globe, scientists are pursuing promising leads in the hunt for the proverbial fountain of youth.

Genetic clue: One of those leads is the sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) gene. Past research has linked the protein produced by this "longevity gene" to healthy aging and longer life expectancy, but the exact nature of that link isn't entirely clear.

To better understand the connection, Cohen's team genetically modified mice so that their SIRT6 genes would produce higher-than-normal levels of the protein.

The results: Not only did the genetically modified mice have a 23% longer life expectancy than wild mice, they also appeared to stay healthy longer.

Older modified mice chose to spend more time on the running wheels in their cages, and they ran faster and longer distances. They were also able to overcome age-related diseases, such as cancer and blood disorders, more readily.

Why it matters: Analysis suggests that increasing SIRT6 appeared to allow older mice to generate energy from sources they'd normally have trouble tapping into at their age, such as fats and lactic acid.

"This discovery, combined with our previous findings, shows that SIRT6 controls the rate of healthy aging," Cohen said in a press release.

"If we can determine how to activate it in humans, we will be able to prolong life."
HAIM COHEN

"If we can determine how to activate it in humans, we will be able to prolong life, and this could have enormous health and economic implications."

The next steps: Cohen's team hopes to use what it learned from the mice to develop a drug that could extend the life expectancy of humans by boosting the gene's activity.

"We are developing small molecules that may increase the levels (of) SIRT6, or make existing amounts of the protein more active," he said. "They may be used in the future to address aging."

 

[Toolbox]

Now.. if we just combine the results of the last 1,000 experiments that journalists have overblown, humanity will both be able to achieve immortality, be cancer free, and actually gain muscle mass just by eating chocolate and drinking wine all day.

 

[AnotherPleb]

If this shit worked on humans you'd never hear of it. Elites would prefer to have others thinking they just live eternaly through surgery and being able to actually eat well.

 

[Toolbox]

If this shit worked on humans you'd never hear of it. Elites would prefer to have others thinking they just live eternaly through surgery and being able to actually eat well.

Eh, you'd hear about it at least a decade or more further down the line when it's outdated, the open biohacking community would probably figure it out eventually. But very few people still would be able to access it or utilize it, especially since it requires gene editing and that basically means only your kids would experience the benefits.

 

[melty]

(1990)

 

[Toolbox]

View attachment 2242088
(1990)

It's been going on further back than that even. About every other month journalists will handpick some random experiment that may or may not be repeatable or ever be tested on people, but they will overemphasize the benefits of many times to the point of outright fabricating major parts. Said results may eventually be retested and usually found out to be false/weaker than first stated/not usuable for people or way more complex when applied to us. This will warrant usually a few papers to pick it up but not admit they were ever wrong for rushing it to publication in the first place. It doesn't matter if it's articles about anti-aging, some magical new energy source that's totally green this time guys, eating (X) food will give you cancer/give you health benefits (usually something really overdone like chocolate, alcohol, eggs, red meat) it all makes for grand clickbait to the I FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE masses.

 

[whatever I feel like]

Excellent. Now, is there one to make my legs stop hurting too? I kind of wouldn't want the one without the other.

 

[Sithis]

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

 

[TowinKarz]

It was the "Tom and Jerry" gene, wasn't it?

 

[Penis Drager]

Excellent. Now, is there one to make my legs stop hurting too? I kind of wouldn't want the one without the other.

We've got opiates for that.

 

[Toolbox]

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

I assume when they talk about something like this it also deals with some of the effects of those kinds of issues. I don't think you can increase lifetime without making stress causing disorders and general bodily breakdown less as well. But who knows when we're speaking about mice here.

 

[melty]

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

This sounds like a lot of extra money for the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Here's why you are an alt right conspiracy theorist if you don't take the new life expectancy vaccine.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

Well don't give it to healthy people's kids,

Older modified mice chose to spend more time on the running wheels in their cages, and they ran faster and longer distances. They were also able to overcome age-related diseases, such as cancer and blood disorders, more readily.

Why it matters: Analysis suggests that increasing SIRT6 appeared to allow older mice to generate energy from sources they'd normally have trouble tapping into at their age, such as fats and lactic acid.

Give it to Amazon and hand them a pile of deathfats. They'll slim down and wagie wagie can stay in cagie for 23% longer, Amazon is really efficient too so we can sit back and enjoy the show as the HAES crowd realizes that the deathfat genocide has come.

If it doesn't work out, well, their lives would have been short in the first place. The extra time they have to suffer is nerfed from the get go.

 

[Orange Man Costume]

I don't think you can increase lifetime without making stress causing disorders and general bodily breakdown less as well. But who knows when we're speaking about mice here.

Generally afaik most of the more hyped anti-aging research goes into fixing the types of cellular damage that make up aging, rather than trying to find and unlock longevity genes, which was a big focus in the 90's, and generally went nowhere, which is why imo this article isn't that big of a deal.

Anti-aging research reached a point where aging was narrowed down to 7 types of cellular damage that don't heal on its own, like senescent cell buildup, mutations in the mitochondria, extracellular junk buildup, extracellular cross-linking, etc.

Several biomed companies are working on treatments for certain types, under the guise of treating a specific non-aging problem like arthritis so they get funding, while the SENS foundation basically acts like an activist group promoting it all, gathering investors, and kickstarting companies to tackle some specific thing, with the goal of creating a perpetually healthy mouse as a PR stunt as soon as they can, which they claimed they could do within 5 years.

Meanwhile Google has a company called Calico that's supposedly burns through a billion+ a year researching all the same things but doesn't share with anyone.

That was also an autismal reading rabbit-hole I went down back in 2019 and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing went on hold during corona. Last I heard recently was that a robust treatment for clearing senescent cells was out or is about to be.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

"If we can determine how to activate it in humans, we will be able to prolong life, and this could have enormous health and economic implications."

The next steps: Cohen's team hopes to use what it learned from the mice to develop a drug that could extend the life expectancy of humans by boosting the gene's activity.

"We are developing small molecules that may increase the levels (of) SIRT6, or make existing amounts of the protein more active," he said. "They may be used in the future to address aging."

GIVE IT TO ME

A WALL OF FIRE

But nah seriously, make me immortal.

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

They reported that the mice were healthier for longer, so if true, it would totally slow the progress of aging.

 

[Underestimated Nutria]

Dr. Sinclair's book is a pretty good intro. to the state of aging research, albeit heavily biased, quite possibly rationally, in favor of the importance/supremacy of NMN/NAD+ boosting drugs but in the meanwhile you can get most of the benefits by following the 16/8 diet (i.e. limiting all your energy intake to an 8 hour daily window, ideally less) and trying to fast a few days straight every month or so. The evidence for calorie restriction being good for health is utterly invincible -- for longevity in humans, pretty compelling.

Metformin taken in middle-age will probably buy you a couple extra years of healthy life, too -- a lot of aging is caused by glycation from blood glucose, obviously being worse the higher your levels.

There are also all sorts of other promising things in the pipeline -- it's quite remarkable how much progress has been made the last couple decades with barely a word of it in the media.

 

[Sped Xing]

Chocolate kills dogs.

 

[Corpun]

Can we please quit playing God? First it was a monkey human hybrid now it is life extension. Both of which reek of elite wanting to live forever and hoping these are means to do so.

Future breakthroughs might allow us to live decades (or even centuries) longer, and across the globe, scientists are pursuing promising leads in the hunt for the proverbial fountain of youth.

And such a process would be so expensive only the shadiest multibillionaire could afford it.

If this shit worked on humans you'd never hear of it. Elites would prefer to have others thinking they just live eternaly through surgery and being able to actually eat well.

Just look at how long Rockefeller tried to live with several heart surgeries.

 

[Slap47]

Even if they could do this, who the fuck would want it?

Oh boy, you increased life expectancy!
Let me know when you get around to handling the utter shitload of ailments that happen as we age which don't kill us, but still make our lives a living hell. Imagine the prospect of having to live with arthritis or shingles for an extra 30-40 damn years.

Most of these conditions can be cured with the consumption of bugs and soy products.

 

[A Welsh Cake]

What if it’s just a flat number.
“Here we go 23% of a mouses life”
“That’s like 3 months”