Changing the Face of Anti-Aging Longevity Science
Channel: Lifespan News
Date: 2022-02-14

Eric Le Bourg has published a thought-provoking paper in Biogerontology that offers a critique of geroscience.
 
When people discuss the prospects of targeting the aging processes to prevent, halt, or even reverse age-related diseases, their beliefs often fall into two opposing categories. The first is overly optimistic blue-sky thinking, and the second is an overly pessimistic view that it is simply impossible. 
 
Both extremes are problematic: one side largely ignores the challenges involved, but the other side discounts the progress being made by the professionals working in the field. What is needed is a balanced view that accepts the difficulty of the task ahead but does not outright dismiss the possibilities. 
 
The author of this paper is not opposed to the idea of tackling the aging processes but offers some valid criticism of the field as it stands. His aim is to actually offer critique, not because he thinks the field is nonsense, but rather because he wants to see it mature and be taken seriously.
 
"Geroscience" is a simple term; "gero" means "old age", so geroscience refers to the science of aging. 
 
While some people see it as an attempt to rebrand life extension, rejuvenation biotechnology, anti-aging, and so on, the word has become more popular lately, particularly in academic circles.

If aging were comprehensively understood and interventions could fully control it, then there would naturally be no limit to healthy human lifespan. This is with the understanding that if medicine could fully suppress the diseases of aging, then aging itself would also be effectively suppressed.
 
While it is unlikely that such comprehensive control of aging would occur as the result of initial geroscience interventions, it is perhaps a longer-term possibility as the field, technology, and effectiveness of interventions are refined.
 
The author of the paper points out that there are quite a number of publications that hint that we are close to a breakthrough in slowing or even reversing human aging.
 
This is a fair point, and indeed, there are a number of people who continue to support the narrative that the defeat of aging is just around the corner. This is misleading, and such ambassadors for the field would do well to curb over-enthusiasm and present a more realistic and balanced view of where we are now and the challenges ahead.
 
For example, there is currently a lot of enthusiasm for partial cellular reprogramming as a way to rejuvenate the body. While the animal studies so far have been promising and there has been a flood of investment into this approach, there is a lot of work to be done before it reaches people, assuming that things go well and it translates. 
 
The same applies to senolytics - there was once a huge amount of hype and enthusiasm for senescent cell-destroying technologies. Yet here we are, years later, and we are still waiting.
 
Biology and the development of medicine is a slow process, and we still have a long road to reach our ultimate goal.
 
While considerable progress has been made in animal studies regarding the reversal of aging, the increase of lifespan and healthspan, and the rejuvenation of tissues and organs, those results are a long way from translation to humans. The work of our field is very much a long haul, and we should always be mindful of that, especially when talking to other people about it.


SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35059905/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4817738/

https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27882/text/

https://www.lifespan.io/news/new-partial-reprogramming-drastically-lowers-cellular-age/

https://www.lexico.com/grammar/how-words-are-built

https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/altos-labs-a-startup-in-silicon-valley-is-betting-on-cellular-rejuvenation-programming-to-enable-longevity

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