Rejuvenation Research
A Natural Product Telomerase Activator As Part of a Health Maintenance Program
Sierra Sciences Co-Authors Paper Announcing Successful Lengthening of Telomeres
to Extend Human Lifespan
RENO, Nev., Sept 08, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sierra Sciences, in
collaboration with TA Sciences, Geron Corporation, PhysioAge, and the Spanish
National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), has announced the first compound ever
discovered that activates the enzyme telomerase in the human body - a critical
prerequisite for technology that could arrest or reverse the aging process in
humans. This compound is a natural product derived nutraceutical known as TA-65.
These findings appear as a research article entitled 'A natural product
telomerase activator as part of a health maintenance program,' published
September 7, 2010 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Rejuvenation
Research. The article can be found at
liebertonline.com.
Researchers discovered that TA-65 was associated with a statistically significant
"age-reversal" effect in the immune system, in that it led to declines in the
percentage of senescent cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells after six to
twelve months of use. In addition, further analysis with automated
high-throughput confocal microscopy (HT-qFISH) revealed a decline in the
percentage of white blood cells with critically short telomeres after twelve to
eighteen months of use.
Several peer-reviewed publications have calculated that humans have a theoretical
maximum lifespan of 125 years, but our health declines long before that. Many
scientists believe that this limit on lifespan and decline in health is imposed
by the gradual shortening of our telomeres, structures at the ends of our
chromosomes that shorten with every cell division. Telomere shortening is thought
to be the "clock of aging" contained within the human body. It has been
repeatedly demonstrated that a human cell that does not undergo telomere
shortening will divide indefinitely and is, by all available measurements,
immortal.
The publication reports that TA-65 can cause telomerase, an enzyme that lengthens
telomeres, to become active in human cells. Telomerase activation by TA-65 was
shown to lengthen the shortest telomeres in humans, potentially extending human
lifespan and healthspan. Telomerase activation is thought to be a keystone of
future regenerative medicine and a necessary condition for clinical immortality.
Although TA-65 is probably too weak to completely arrest the aging process, it is
the first telomerase activator recognized as safe for human use.
"We are on the cusp of curing aging," said William Andrews, Ph.D., co-author of
this study and President and CEO of Sierra Sciences, LLC. "TA-65 is going to go
down in history as the first supplement you can take that doesn't merely extend
your life a few years by improving your health, but actually affects the
underlying mechanisms of aging. Better telomerase inducers will be developed in
the coming years, but TA-65 is the first of a whole new family of
telomerase-activating therapies that could eventually keep us young and healthy
forever."
Telomerase activation has potential medical applications beyond extending human
lifespan. Epidemiological studies have shown that short telomeres in humans are a
risk factor for diseases including, among others, atherosclerosis, diabetes,
Alzheimer's, and cancer.
The present study also reports encouraging news on the effect of TA-65 on the
body's immune system. Infectious diseases lead to telomere shortening in the
immune system, as immune cells divide to fight infections. Telomerase activation
should prevent this telomere shortening and allow the body's immune system to
fight a chronic infection indefinitely.
The present study on TA-65 lends support to this hypothesis. In individuals
infected with CMV, a virus which prematurely ages the immune system and
significantly reduces life expectancy, TA-65 caused an apparent "age reversal" of
approximately 5 to 20 years based on one biomarker of immune aging.
For the same reason, telomerase activation is a potential treatment for AIDS. "We
tend to see HIV turning into AIDS when the cells of the immune system develop
critically short telomeres," said Andrews. "HIV can essentially cause the immune
system to die of old age while the majority of the body is still young. A
telomerase activator could theoretically prevent an HIV-positive individual from
ever developing AIDS."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
ABOUT SIERRA SCIENCES
Sierra Sciences LLC Click for Detail is a company devoted to finding
ways to extend our health span and lifespan beyond the theoretical maximum of 125
years. Sierra Sciences was founded by Dr. William H. Andrews to continue his
anti-aging research and to commercially exploit the results by developing a
pharmaceutical to prevent and/or reverse cellular aging. We are pursuing basic
research to develop a pharmaceutical that will cause the endogenous telomerase
gene to express an enzyme called telomerase which has been shown to extend
telomeres, thus restoring cells to youthful vigor.
ABOUT REJUVENATION RESEARCH
Rejuvenation Research Click for Detail
liebertonline.com
Calvin B. Harley,1,6
Weimin Liu,2
Maria Blasco,3
Elsa Vera,3
William H. Andrews,4
Laura A. Briggs,4 and
Joseph M. Raffaele5
1Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, California.
2TA Sciences, New York, New York.
3Spanish National Cancer Center, Madrid, Spain.
4Sierra Sciences, Reno, Nevada.
5PhysioAge Systems, New York, New York.
6Present address: Telome Health Inc., Murphys, California.
Address correspondence to:
Calvin B. Harley
Telome Health, Inc.
1177 Sandalwood Dr.
Murphys, CA, 95247
E-mail:
Received: June 25, 2010
Accepted: August 9, 2010
Abstract
Most human cells lack sufficient telomerase to maintain telomeres, hence these genetic elements shorten with time and stress, contributing to aging and disease. In January, 2007, a commercial health maintenance program, PattonProtocol-1, was launched that included a natural product-derived telomerase activator (TA-65®, 10–50mg daily), a comprehensive dietary supplement pack, and physician counseling/laboratory tests at baseline and every 3–6 months thereafter. We report here analysis of the first year of data focusing on the immune system. Low nanomolar levels of TA-65® moderately activated telomerase in human keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and immune cells in culture; similar plasma levels of TA-65® were achieved in pilot human pharmacokinetic studies with single 10- to 50-mg doses. The most striking in vivo effects were declines in the percent senescent cytotoxic (CD8+/CD28-) T cells (1.5, 4.4, 8.6, and 7.5% at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively; p=not significant [N.S.], 0.018, 0.0024, 0.0062) and natural killer cells at 6 and 12 months (p=0.028 and 0.00013, respectively). Most of these decreases were seen in cytomegalovirus (CMV) seropositive subjects. In a subset of subjects, the distribution of telomere lengths in leukocytes at baseline and 12 months was measured. Although mean telomere length did not increase, there was a significant reduction in the percent short (<4kbp) telomeres (p=0.037). No adverse events were attributed to PattonProtocol-1. We conclude that the protocol lengthens critically short telomeres and remodels the relative proportions of circulating leukocytes of CMV+ subjects toward the more “youthful” profile of CMV- subjects. Controlled randomized trials are planned to assess TA-65®-specific effects in humans. |
