Libella Gene Therapeutics to Run a Patient Paid Trial of Telomerase Gene Therapy

After Bioviva Science, Libella Gene Therapeutics is the second company to take a run at commercializing telomerase gene therapy treatments for human use. Telomerase is the enzyme responsible for lengthening telomeres, repeated DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, though it may have other roles. Telomeres are a part of the mechanism that limits the number of times that a somatic cell can replicate. Telomeres shorten with each cell division, and when too short they trigger programmed cell death or cellular senescence followed by destruction by the immune system. Ordinary somatic cells in humans do not express telomerase; it is only present in stem cells, which can replicate indefinitely to supply tissues with new somatic cells with long telomeres. This split between a small privileged stem cell population and the vast majority of restricted somatic cells is how higher forms of animal life keep cancer risk low enough for evolutionary success. Obviously not low enough for comfort, but evolution was never about individual happiness. Telomerase gene therapies have been demonstrated to extend life span and reduce cancer risk in mice. The former outcome is likely largely due to increased stem cell activity, while the latter outcome is somewhat counterintuitive: if damaged cells are pushed into more activity and replication that they would not normally have undertaken, won't this raise the risk of cancerous mutations arising? It may be that improvements in immune function ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs