7 replies to this topic

[sub7]

You may be highly inclined to turn it off because the guy engages in so much self-promotion and the interview is very long. But there is definitely some new ideas. Everyone /even QuestforLife? yes even him  ) will find a few new ideas at the least.

 

[sub7]

One question to our experts

In the video they talk about many interventions (supplements, lifestyle changes etc) that can slow down telomere shortening When the interviewer asks "how exactly will it work, will these things reduce the rate at which cells will divide? after all this is the only way you can slow down telomere shortening, no?" he receives no satisfactory answer.

 

So.... can you slow down the rate at which telomeres shorten per year, without changing how often the cells will divide? If so ,what is the mechanism?

 

thanks a lot

[QuestforLife]

I have not watched yet, but as I've seen many of Bill's interviews before, I doubt there will be anything new. But certainly I second the Ops request: everyone that is interested in telomeres (and indeed ageing) should watch Bill Andrew's interviews. He is by far the best telomere researcher in the world, still many years ahead of all his peers. It may seem that he is self-promoting, but basically it is true that no one else is anywhere near him. 

 

I find it disturbing to see such ignorance in the video's comments. Basically, either, this is a new idea, or it will cause cancer. Neither is true. 

 

I will have to watch the video through, but I find it suprising that Bill does not answer your question fully. Of course you can slow telomere shortening without slowing the rate of division. The answer is what Bill Andrews has spent his life pursuing: activating telomerase. I would tend to avoid things that slow the rate of division down (unless that division was elevated by something pathological like an illness) because in doing so you will reduce your body's ability to respond to challenges.  

 

 

[sub7]

I would tend to avoid things that slow the rate of division down (unless that division was elevated by something pathological like an illness) because in doing so you will reduce your body's ability to respond to challenges.  

 

Thanks a lot Quest

 

So would you avoid Rapamycin based on that view of yours?
Not sure if Rapa actually has been associated with a reduction in body's ability to respond to changes...

but then again, does Rapa reduce division rate across both healthy cells or merely some? 

[QuestforLife]

tried rapa for 2 years weekly dosing.

tried evero on and off 

 

Short answer is yes, I would avoid. 

 

Calculation may be different for older folks who are on the cusp of senescence across whole body, when rapa benefits may be worthwhile to stop runaway senescence driven activation of inflammation. 

[sub7]

tried rapa for 2 years weekly dosing.

tried evero on and off 

 

Short answer is yes, I would avoid. 

 

Calculation may be different for older folks who are on the cusp of senescence across whole body, when rapa benefits may be worthwhile to stop runaway senescence driven activation of inflammation. 

 

You had mentioned that before, yes.

Don't want to take too much of your time, but I think this is a very important matter WRT Telomeres, so will please ask once more:

Is it possible to leave the rate of cell division untouched, yet still diminish how quickly telomeres shorten? How can that at all be possible? Would be a huge accomplishment if so... it would mean we can change how cells act during division, which sounds very unlikely really...

[QuestforLife]

Is it possible to leave the rate of cell division untouched, yet still diminish how quickly telomeres shorten? How can that at all be possible? Would be a huge accomplishment if so... it would mean we can change how cells act during division, which sounds very unlikely really...

Yes! This is exactly what telomerase does. During cell division the telomerase protein adds telomere repeats (nucleotide bases TTAGGG) to the existing telomere to make it longer. As telomere repeats are lost on one of the DNA strands each division, this will, in the absence of telomerase, eventually lead to critically short telomeres that prevent further division. If this division arrest command fails and the cell continues to divide, the DNA strands can be torn apart in the wrong place during cell division (because the telomere-less ends of chromosomes are fused together by DNA repair enzymes). This leads to anuploidy, I.e. cells with the wrong number of chromosomes. This is the highway to cancer. But if enough telomerase is present, telomere shortening is fully counteracted by the telomere additions from telomerase. This is what happens in telomerase positive cells, like embryonic stem cells. If we use telomerase activators, the best we can currently hope for is counteracting about about 16% of the shortening due to cell division (using TAM818).

I hope this helps. I am happy to answer these questions. Really the best thing would be to ask Mind if he could get a Longecity interview of Bill Andrews where Dr Andrews could answer questions pre-posed by Longecity members.

[sub7]

I feel so dumb. All along I was thinking in m head "ok so there is telomerase to lengthen the telomere portion of the DNA, but without that, how do we keep telomeres from getting shorter?"

 

However, I neglected to state " ... without telomerase.." in my question. Turns out we have been talking about good old telomerase all along. Got you...

 

Yes MIND, please do interview Bill Andrews.... that'd be awesome