BioViva [update]: first gene therapy successful against human aging

[Deleted]

Link: http://www.neuroscientistnews.com/re...st-human-aging

American woman gets biologically younger after gene therapies

In September 2015, then 44 year-old CEO of BioViva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company's experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.

The treatment was originally intended to demonstrate the safety of the latest generation of the therapies. But if early data is accurate, it is already the world's first successful example of telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual. Gene therapy has been used to lengthen telomeres before in cultured cells and in mice, but never in a human patient.

Telomeres are short segments of DNA which cap the ends of every chromosome, acting as 'buffers' against wear and tear. They shorten with every cell division, eventually getting too short to protect the chromosome, causing the cell to malfunction and the body to age.

In September 2015, telomere data taken from Parrish's white blood cells by SpectraCell's specialized clinical testing laboratory in Houston, Texas, immediately before therapies were administered, revealed that Parrish's telomeres were unusually short for her age, leaving her vulnerable to age-associated diseases earlier in life.

In March 2016, the same tests taken again by SpectraCell revealed that her telomeres had lengthened by approximately 20 years, from 6.71kb to 7.33kb, implying that Parrish's white blood cells (leukocytes) have become biologically younger. These findings were independently verified by the Brussels-based non-profit HEALES (Healthy Life Extension Company), and the Biogerontology Research Foundation, a UK-based charity committed to combating age-related diseases.

Parrish's reaction: "Current therapeutics offer only marginal benefits for people suffering from diseases of aging. Additionally, lifestyle modification has limited impact for treating these diseases. Advances in biotechnology is the best solution, and if these results are anywhere near accurate, we've made history", Parrish said.

Bioviva will continue to monitor Parrish's blood for months and years to come. Meanwhile, BioViva will be testing new gene therapies and combination gene therapies to restore age related damage. It remains to be seen whether the success in leukocytes can expanded to other tissues and organs, and repeated in future patients. For now all the answers lie in the cells of Elizabeth Parrish, 'patient zero' of restorative gene therapy.

Since her first gene therapy injections BioViva has received global interest from both the scientific and investment communities. Earlier this month BioViva became a portfolio company of Deep Knowledge Life Sciences (DKLS), a London-based investment fund which aims to accelerate the development of biotechnologies for healthy longevity.

Dmitry Kaminskiy, founding partner of DKLS, said "BioViva has the potential to create breakthroughs in human gene therapy research, while leapfrogging companies in the biotech market."

Literally the stuff of sci-fi, now scientifically and independently proven to be real!

[Tradewind]

It's all fun and games until Granny eats your face after getting her "gene therapy."

[Garnier Fructis]

I'm not entirely convinced that we're going to get impartial verification from those two sources.

[Wyrt]

It's all fun and games until Granny eats your face after getting her "gene therapy."

I'm safe then because both my grandmas are dead.

[enragedgorilla]

I would just like my metabolism back from when I was 16-18, Aging ....eeeehhh..."1/3 Ahead please Mr Scott."

[Deleted]

It's so amazing seeing all these breakthroughs being made, knowing that people who are born today may get to enjoy them, while I have to die. Well, I can always hope an asteroid wipes out all life on Earth before that happens. Here's hoping.

[Reeve]

I'll not hold my breath until the findings are in a credible journal and the results have been replicated independently.

[Techno-Druid]

It's all fun and games until Granny eats your face after getting her "gene therapy."

What is she getting gene therapy to look like a tyrannosaurus?

[Logwyn]

What is she getting gene therapy to look like a tyrannosaurus?

I think he means that this will turn people into zombies.

[Sting]

If this turns out to be legit, it's easily one of the most important scientific discoveries ever.

[Underverse]

Need more info. If I remember correctly, the therapy was a combined approach using viral vectors to target multiple organs. That they're only reporting results in leukocytes is either disappointing or incomplete. Moreover, leukocyte telomere length isn't a great metric for overall body aging, especially if you're just taking the average telomere length of the population. While leukocyte telomere length is inversely correlated with aging, this is more a metric of chronic inflammation than it is of actual tissue aging.

The biggest problems of aging come with endocrine glands, the brain, and muscle.

[Khadgar]

so is this combined with 3D printed organs / tissue the key and secret to immortality?

http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/16/3d-printed-organs/

[Underverse]

It's interesting that people are hailing this as a landmark discovery/breakthrough. I'm of the opinion that these results are dramatically overstated. All these people have demonstrated is that you can increase leukocyte telomere length with a risky gene therapy - and this is practically a given with our current technology (which these people did not develop). I could make a nucleic acid therapy tomorrow that increases telomere length in liver cells (maybe use RNA instead of DNA so it's not constitutive) - but that's not the same thing as increasing lifespan.

This isn't about innovation or discovery. It's about risk.

[Spiral Mage]

I've heard alot of theories and claims about beating aging .. but until something is a widespread announcement and not just a little story somewhere on the internet, from some questionable sources, I won't believe it.

One thing I am sure of, is any of us hoping to be 'saved' by these kinds of things, will be long dead before they are realized or effectively work, if they ever do.

But it is an exciting thought that humans may be able to beat aging. Of course, we'll have whole new issues with over-population .. and can you imagine .. ? My mother for instance, has a fund thing she has no access to until her mother dies, and she's still alive! Can you imagine if we we were all immortal?

[Vash The Stampede]

It's interesting that people are hailing this as a landmark discovery/breakthrough. I'm of the opinion that these results are dramatically overstated. All these people have demonstrated is that you can increase leukocyte telomere length with a risky gene therapy - and this is practically a given with our current technology (which these people did not develop). I could make a nucleic acid therapy tomorrow that increases telomere length in liver cells (maybe use RNA instead of DNA so it's not constitutive) - but that's not the same thing as increasing lifespan.

This isn't about innovation or discovery. It's about risk.

BioViva does have some creditable advisers. George Church is one of their advisors, and he's one of the creators of CRISPR. That being said, BioViVa is a company and they're looking to sell a product. But what they're trying to prove is that increasing telomere length isn't risky. They have successfully done this to mice in labs, which has extended their life. But the argument is that it doesn't work like that for humans. That extending telomere length will cause cancer, or increase your chances.

I've heard alot of theories and claims about beating aging .. but until something is a widespread announcement and not just a little story somewhere on the internet, from some questionable sources, I won't believe it.

One thing I am sure of, is any of us hoping to be 'saved' by these kinds of things, will be long dead before they are realized or effectively work, if they ever do.

But it is an exciting thought that humans may be able to beat aging. Of course, we'll have whole new issues with over-population .. and can you imagine .. ? My mother for instance, has a fund thing she has no access to until her mother dies, and she's still alive! Can you imagine if we we were all immortal?

The tech is certainly around the corner. Probably the first viable technology is the removal of senescent cells. Proven with mice that removing them is a good thing. And there's drugs that do this called Senolytic Drugs, which are used for cancer treatments. Might be a link between cancer and senescent cells?

Left mouse, no senescent cells remove. Right mouse has them removed. Both mice same age.

[Crissi]

Be interesting to see how this impacts Alzheimer's and dementia research, because who the hell cares about living an extra decade if we're a vegetable in the process.

[Kokolums]

It's all fun and games until Granny eats your face after getting her "gene therapy."

The Grandmatriarchs return!

- - - Updated - - -

If this turns out to be legit, it's easily one of the most important scientific discoveries ever.

Well yeah. The most expensive part of health care is when you are elderly. Health care costs would collapse if there are no elderly.

[Gilgemesh]

O.o
That is crazy. If they can start treating us in ways that prevent the degradation of cells as they reproduce...We're going to have to stop breeding. Yesterday.

[Gheld]

I'm sure it will be sold at astronomical costs. But you'll have your whole life to work it off.

[Reeve]

O.o
That is crazy. If they can start treating us in ways that prevent the degradation of cells as they reproduce...We're going to have to stop breeding. Yesterday.

You'd have to legislate something like requiring sterilization in order to get the procedure done.