Matthew O ' Connor Presenting on Underdog Pharmaceuticals at Undoing Aging 2019

Here Matthew O'Connor of the SENS Research Foundation talks about the research that led to founding of Underdog Pharmaceuticals, a biotech startup incubated by the foundation to commercialize a means of targeting 7-ketocholesterol in atherosclerosis and other conditions. Oxidized cholesterols, and largely 7-ketocholesterol, are the primary cause of dysfunction in the macrophage cells normally responsible for preventing the build up of fatty plaques in blood vessel walls. That dysfunction is the cause of atherosclerosis, and the fact that the presence of oxidized cholesterols increases with age is one of the reasons why atherosclerosis is an age-related disease, and why young people don't exhibit the plaques that narrow and weaken blood vessels. A sufficiently effective way of selectively clearing 7-ketocholesterol from the body should go a long way towards preventing and reversing atherosclerosis - and possibly other conditions as well. As noted here, there is evidence for 7-ketocholesterol to accumulate in other tissues and contribute to age-related conditions in other ways. The particular approach taken by the SENS Research Foundation scientists is to find a non-toxic molecule that selectively binds to the toxic molecule that one would like to remove, 7-ketocholesterol in this case, and deliver it to the body in volume. The bound molecules are then processed and excreted in the normal way. It will be interesting to see how the Underdog project progresses in the years...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs