Scientist targets elixir of youth

By WARREN GAMBLE

Imagine celebrating your 200th birthday - with perfect skin, good hair and your parents dropping by.

A visiting United States scientist says we should start thinking about making extra-long-term plans as medicine closes in on the age-old drag of old age.

Dr Michael Fossel, clinical professor of medicine at Michigan State University, believes that within a decade scientists will confirm they can reverse ageing and eliminate age-related conditions, including cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's and even wrinkled skin.

The youthful-looking 50-year-old yesterday told an Auckland conference, hosted by the New Zealand Chelation Therapy Society, that he was not interested in slowing ageing, but reversing it.

His tongue-in-cheek sign-off was: "Hope to see you guys here in another couple of centuries."

Some experts dismiss his claims as another garden path on the search for the fountain of youth; others say any practical use is a long way off and could only keep people healthier longer rather than increase lifespan.

But Dr Fossel points to growing research demonstrating how human cells can avoid normal ageing.

Many human cells have finite lifespans, dividing only so many times before they stop. In 1998 scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre found that by adding an enzyme called telomerase to the chromosomes of cells, they continued to divide and showed no signs of ageing or dying.

The enzyme, which occurs naturally, resets a cell's biological clock - called a telomere - which otherwise shortens each time a cell divides.

The Texas researchers said such cell rejuvenation might increase the normal health span, but not the normal lifespan.

Dr Fossel, however, believes subsequent research will lead to both.

A key to an eventual elixir of youth would be finding a way to "switch on" telomerase already in the body, rather than removing cells and treating them.

Dr Fossel admitted there were still technical barriers and huge social and ethical issues in any attempt to extend human lives to 200 years and beyond.

Overpopulation, ecological pressure and economic displacement were a few of the complex questions raised, as well as the fundamental issue of playing with human lifespan.

"I think this whole prospect should scare people," he said. "But I think we should see if it can work."

New Zealand has no specialists in the telomerase field, but the head of Auckland University's molecular medicine division, Associate Professor Kathy Crosier, said difficulties understanding the biology involved should not be underestimated.

Gene therapy, where the biology was well understood, was progressing only slowly, she said.

So don't put aside those 200 candles just yet.