I have been on accutane for around 2 months and just learned that its mechanism of action could be telomere shortening!
I have obviously heard of telomere length being associated with aging and am worried that by taking accutane I have dug myself an early grave :(
Which would be devastating to say the least..
I dont think its been proven, but seems widely believed and there are studies to back it up.. I wish my derma would have let me know about this!.. wtf?
I know a lot of people have taken accutane, but its only been around for 30 years or something... So maybe everyone who takes it will end up living 20 years less than they would have?? Do you think thats possible?
Please let me know what you think.
Main discussion:
http://www.topix.com...QJ8DO1TLI41VBPN
Paragraph taken from above:
"Crandall" (see below link) "is hinting at Accutane’s mechanism of action but he doesn’t specifically say the actual mechanism because I don’t think he knows about the telomere (pronounced TEE-LA-MEER) research that I have discovered. Recently, I’ve discovered research that shows that all-trans retinoic acid (abbreviated ATRA which is the final biologically active [color=#739912 ! important][font=inherit ! important][color=#739912 ! important][font=inherit ! important]metabolite[/font][/font][/color][/color] that Accutane turns into) down-regulates the telomerase enzyme (pronounced TEE-LA-MER-AZE) and induces telomere shortening and cell death. This I believe is the mechanism of action. Accutane causes telomere shortening leading to permanently arrested cell division / proliferation."
Crandalls study (eluded to in above paragraph):
http://www.pnas.org/...4/5111.abstract
Studies eluded to in below paragraph:
http://www.ncbi.nlm....icles/PMC34517/
http://www.nature.co...l/2404127a.html
From main discussion:
"To sum all of this up, the evidence we currently have is that long term treatment with ATRA (all-trans retinoic acid), which is almost chemically identical to Accutane, causes “telomere shortening, growth arrest, and cell death.” The cells that the researchers tested in the studies I listed above were cancerous cell lines, but if ATRA causes these effects in cancerous cell lines, then it is highly likely that it will do the same thing to our body’s own dividing/proliferating cells such as the cells in the bone, skin, digestive tract, and even the hippocampus and subventricular zone in the brain. This is the “big link” hypothesis. Besides the Crandall study on the hippocampus, to my knowledge, I don’t know of any specific studies that have been conducted on how it affects the body’s own rapidly dividing cells, but given the nature of some people’s symptoms and side effects, telomere shortening is an obvious possibility."