Forcing Youthful Gene Expression in Old Cells Should in Principle be Beneficial

It is reasonable to expect that forcing the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in cells in old tissue into a pattern more like that of cells in young tissue could be beneficial. Some of these changes in gene expression are clearly entirely maladaptive and detrimental to the health and life span of the organism. All else being equal, reversing those changes, and only those changes, will in principle lead to improved health. In principle is one thing, but will the effect size be large enough in practice, however? We rarely argue over whether specific mechanisms and outcomes exist, but we frequently argue over whether the result of intervention will be large enough to care about. The concern with resetting epigenetic regulation of gene expression to a more youthful configuration is twofold: firstly, some epigenetic change is beneficial and helps to minimize the impact of the underlying damage of aging. Secondly, rejuvenation of any specific set of gene expression patterns will usually not fix the underlying damage of aging that caused gene expression to change in the first place. That damage will remain, still producing all of the other issues and dysfunctions that it is capable of causing. Targeting the damage rather than the reactions to damage is likely a better strategy. Cost-free lifespan extension via optimization of gene expression in adulthood aligns with the developmental theory of ageing The force of natural selection is maximized during pr...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs