On the topic of reversal of aging, the following recent press release involving immunosenescence sounded very promising
UCSF researchers have identified an existing medication that restores key elements of the immune system that, when out of balance, lead to a steady decline in immunity and health as people age.
...In 2009, Goetzl had studied a group of 50 elderly adults through the National Institute on Aging, examining their levels of key cytokines – Interleukin (IL)-2, IFN-gamma and IL-17 – and discovered that truly healthy 70-80 year old women had the same levels of those as did healthy 20 year olds. ...
However, some elderly men and frail women who showed increased levels of inflammatory diseases and weakened defenses against infections tended to have lower levels of the first two cytokines, which are protective, and higher levels of inflammatory cytokines. That imbalance, the researchers found, began in late middle age.
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In this study, the team tested the drug in healthy seniors, each of whom were matched in race, gender and national origin to a healthy young adult participant. They found that extremely low levels of lenalidomide – 0.1 μM – optimally stimulated IL-2 production in the young people (21-40 years) roughly sevenfold, but stimulated IL-2 production in patients over age 65 by 120-fold, restoring them to youthful levels for up to five days.
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The researchers also found that lenalidomide had many other beneficial effects on the elderly participants' T cells, including better migration throughout the body, more efficient patrolling activity and longer survival after defending the body against an infection.-link
Reversing aspects of immune system aging might allow for an extension of healthspan. It has been seen that some individuals can barely even walk in their 70s while others are riding bicycles in their 90s-100s. As more and more of the deviations between these groups is corrected, it may come a time when it is the majority that enjoys health into their 90s and beyond.
Edited by Cameron, 14 December 2010 - 05:40 AM.