When I first heard of Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for Genes That Prolong Youth by Leonard Guarente I ordered it from Amazon and was waiting with baited breath until I got it in my hand. After switching off all cell phones and diverting the home one to the answering service, I then made myself comfortable in bed and proceeded to spend most of an afternoon and early evening reading it. It is not a particularly lengthy book at 154 pages, and since I was already familiar with most of the molecular biology behind sirtuins, SIR2 and the mechanism behind how it causes the anti-aging effect I didn't need to slow down when I got to these sections.
When I finished it I felt somewhat like a man who having gone to such lengths to impress and seduce his object of desire, his raison d'être - finds himself face to face with the fact that the woman next to him is nothing more than a representation of his fantasies - as if in a strange parallel with the corny cover of the book. I had to conclude that my expectations were unrealistic. I suppose I was seeking some sort of validation of what I perceived as the potential direction of where research in SIR2 was heading: linking the well established phenomenon of calorie restriction to DNA repair and protection via the deacetylation mechanism of DNA expression regulation in a unified theory of metabolism in aging. Well, in a way it did, but not with the expected fanfare of, "we are approaching the solution to the aging problem". Even considering the necessary mantle of conservatism that a researcher of his standing must invariably wear, I felt that an estimate of adding 30 years or so to human lifespan as being the best that science can ever hope to achieve as being out of touch with reality.
I must admit that I was more disappointed by his book, based on the respect I have for him, than by the various other more hopeful and optimistic books on life extension whose hypothesis I find sadly lacking invariably because the authors, who generally are not trained scientists and do not have the necessary biological knowledge substrate.
For those skeptics out there, and they are justified (although they may not be present in this forum) in thinking that Guarente's estimate on life span extension may be correct, it is important to note that this is not the only pathway to modulate the molecular processes behind the aging phenotype. As caloric restriction can only go so far in extending human lifespan, so too would interventions associated with SIR2. There are many other ways of increasing DNA repair and protection.
It is worth mentioning that Guarente has recently filed a number of patents on SIR2 and he is also the founder of the aptly named company, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, looking to develop interventions designed to simulate the anti-aging effects of caloric restriction.
