Reviewing What is Known of PTEN and its Longevity Effects

The PTEN gene shows up in a number of places in aging research, and today's paper is a review of what is known of its relevance to the field. To pick a few items, PTEN appears to be involved in some of the processes and pathways that control nutrient sensing, and is thus of interest to researchers attempting to recreate the beneficial effects of calorie restriction via pharmaceuticals. It is also involved in regeneration and cancer as a governor that prevents excessive cell growth. In this context, PTEN suppression has been shown to enhance nerve regrowth in mice, but of course there are other, adverse consequences to turning off a cancer suppression gene should that be accomplished too broadly or for too long a period of time. Moving the dial in the other direction, researchers have found that increasing the amounts of protein generated from the PTEN gene reduces cancer incidence and extends life in mice. To find a cancer suppressor that also extends life when present in larger amounts is actually somewhat unexpected. The (perhaps overly) simple view of cancer suppressor genes is that they act to reduce cellular replication, which in turn diminishes tissue maintenance more rapidly as aging progresses. The net result is mixed: less cancer, true, but also a shorter life span and greater incidence of frailty. This is the case for the general application of tumor suppressor gene p53, for example. But even for p53, it is possible to find more subtle ways to apply the incre...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs