In early May 2011, Professor João Gonçalves, from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, was in the news because he won a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate a new way to fight AIDS.
The technique proposed by Professor Gonçalves is relatively complex, but what interests us is that it includes a methodology for the transport of large molecules into cells. Now, transport of macromolecules such as telomerase to the nucleus is precisely what we want. This technology is absolutely crucial to our future.
Shortly after the news was out I contacted the Professor, who initially had a very positive reaction. However, this first impression did not develop, and I continued my research.
And here's what I found.
Human (and rodent) telomerase is already produced commercially. To view a selection of companies working in this field go to http://www.biocompare.co.uk/ProductListings/16563/Biomolecule.html?s=telomerase , where you can see that there are already several companies producing telomerase (in various designations, from "Human Telomerase" to "TERT"). It is an area that seems to arouse great interest, and on that side I do not think we’ll have great difficulties.
And what about the transport of telomerase to the place where it should act?
When I learned about the endeavors of Professor João Gonçalves, I thought that the technique of nanoparticles (which is the methodology that you need to master to make macromolecules reach the interior of cells) was a cutting edge technology, practiced only in sophisticated laboratories. I was wrong.
A few weeks later, I found that in Spain a very small company located in a small town in Navarre, BioNanoPlus (www.bionanoplus.com) already offers technology capable of transporting proteins (ie, telomerase) into the cells. If a company as small as BioNanoPlus, in a remote region of Spain already offers this technology, what are we waiting for?
To get old?
In addition, there is one last "detail", which is the following: telomerase is a natural substance, and its production and marketing is dependent on a regulatory environment much less demanding than that of artificial molecules. The latter requires extensive toxicology and efficacy testing, which does not apply to natural molecules. What this does mean is that everything is in our favor.
In my book, 2009-2049: Forty Years on a Roller Coaster (available on Amazon as an e-book at http://www.amazon.com/2009-2049-Forty-Roller-Coaster-ebook/dp/B004JN11QQ/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2 ) in Chapter 2 I make some proposals for experiments which could lead to considerable progress in our knowledge. The main ones have to do with a fish that lives only 13 weeks, Nothobranchius furzeri. This fish, which obviously is a vertebrate such as Man and therefore has the same nucleotide sequence in telomeres (the biological clocks of cells) would be an ideal vehicle to try to obtain significant extensions of life span. Imagine if we can get the fish that lives only thirteen weeks to live two years ... or twenty.
In addition, there is another experiment which is much simpler and gets us almost immediate results: to give telomerase to aged rats, to see if this achieves the same results as those obtained by Ronald DePinho of Harvard (a radical rejuvenation of the animals).
Aging is, as any doctor can confirm, a process of decay which can be extremely violent. Great possibilities are now open to us. Unless we are waiting to get old …
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