Nexus - 1204 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

professionally, received the American Chemical Society Award, therapeutic regimens which address symptoms rather than ulti- my city's Engineering and Scientific Society award and was mate causes. inducted into my state's Academy of Science as well as into the To anyone who has had to care for patients afflicted with the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association debilitating sequelae of ageing or the horrendous consequences of for the Advancement of Science before graduating from high life-threatening cancers, this is a wholly unsatisfactory state of school. affairs that cries out for new insights and approaches. In college I continued in my pursuits to unravel the mysteries of Anyone who identifies the precise factors that regulate what how cancer cells develop and metastasise. As it was unusual for _ cells do at specific points in the cell growth cycle will have undergraduate students to develop and run their own projects, I achieved a quantum leap in our understanding not only of the gen- was fortunate to work with faculty members in my biology and esis of cancer but also of the age-old question concerning why chemistry departments who gave me free run of their facilities. animals, including humans, age and ultimately die. Such knowl- This research led to the development of new classes of com- edge will not only enable medical science to safely and effectively pounds which could almost completely block invasion (the treat many disease states which today remain enigmatic, but also process by which cancer cells migrate into healthy tissue). These has profound ramifications for the cosmetic industry. compounds were essentially non-toxic. I obtained funding for this research through a local oncologist and his hospital, as well as © CURRENT STATE OF LONGEVITY RESEARCH from my university's foundation. My In order to overcome the limitations of research was featured on local television and current orthodoxies regarding cell growth in newspapers and I received several acco- and differentiation, it is necessary to briefly lades, including the Who's Who Among review what those orthodoxies are. Within Students in American Universities and the appropriate body of scholarship dealing Colleges Award. Thus, upon receiving my with these issues, there have been two basic bachelor's degree I had every reason to sus- schools of thought as to what causes cell pect a successful passage through medical senescence, cell death and the dysfunctions school and a productive career in medical associated with neoplastic disease (e.g. can- research. cer). The currently dominant one is the free- Upon entering medical school, I again had i radical approach. the fortune of working with a faculty mem- We have virtually no Reduced to its most basic form, this view ber who understood the potential of my work therapies today that can holds that cellular dysfunctions, which lead and gz any assistance that he could : to cancer as well as ageing and eventual cell render, Iwas funded by my oncologist | @Mectively halt or even | eich: are caused by the destructive action of acquaintance as well as through grant slow the vaunted environmental free radicals upon vari- biological clock. money from the American Cancer ous important cellular components Society and other government-funded such as DNA. In this fatalistic view, organisations. I became steadily more ageing can be understood as an irre- engrossed in the mysteries of the cell versible and inevitable accumulation of growth cycle and continued synthesis- cellular damage. It is my belief that ing novel classes of cell growth regula- this view is at least partially wrong. tors that eventually led me to develop I was once told that research into an entirely new perspective on such prolonging the human life span was issues as the human life span, cancer futile because "every living thing has and other illnesses that my medical to grow old and die". Yet, this fatalis- school professors were presenting as tic generalisation is patently untrue. unrelated phenomena. I now present Many unicellular organisms are effec- this work in an abbreviated form to tively immortal and reproduce by facilitate understanding by readers dividing indefinitely, only succumbing without biomedical backgrounds. to environmental catastrophes—such as the Clorox bleach in your washing machine. UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES OF THE AGES Likewise, there are multicellular organisms for which the con- Although the stages of the cell growth cycle and the cellular cept of growing old is meaningless. Giant sequoia trees can be and histological transformations that accompany them are fairly thousands of years old—yet keep on growing and producing vig- well-known to medical science, the biochemical mechanisms that orous and functional leaves and internal structures such as xylem bring these changes about are poorly defined at best. This is why and phloem year after year—being felled only by lightning strikes current therapies for disease states which entail rapid and uncon- or chain saws. Certain crustaceans such as lobsters grow bigger trolled cell division (such as cancer), consist mainly of poisoning but do not manifest the age-related declines in reflexes and physi- the offending cells with toxic drugs (chemotherapy), radiation ological parameters that plague humans and other animals. (radiotherapy), or removing them through surgery. Entomologists have long known that hormonal manipulation Our understanding of the underlying mechanisms for the ageing can prevent metamorphosis and keep insects in the juvenile state process leaves even more to be desired. We have virtually no indefinitely. This knowledge has formed the basis for insecticide therapies today that can effectively halt or even slow the vaunted design. biological clock. All we can hope to do is to cover up the signs of Likewise, hormonal cues control the development of plants by ageing through various cosmetic modalities and to treat various affecting the proliferation and differentiation of plant cells. Auxin- age-related maladies (arteriosclerosis, heart disease, etc.,) with class herbicides, such as the ubiquitous 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic therapeutic regimens which address symptoms rather than ulti- mate causes. To anyone who has had to care for patients afflicted with the debilitating sequelae of ageing or the horrendous consequences of life-threatening cancers, this is a wholly unsatisfactory state of affairs that cries out for new insights and approaches. Anyone who identifies the precise factors that regulate what cells do at specific points in the cell growth cycle will have achieved a quantum leap in our understanding not only of the gen- esis of cancer but also of the age-old question concerning why animals, including humans, age and ultimately die. Such knowl- edge will not only enable medical science to safely and effectively treat many disease states which today remain enigmatic, but also has profound ramifications for the cosmetic industry. UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES OF THE AGES Although the stages of the cell growth cycle and the cellular and histological transformations that accompany them are fairly well-known to medical science, the biochemical mechanisms that bring these changes about are poorly defined at best. This is why current therapies for disease states which entail rapid and uncon- trolled cell division (such as cancer), consist mainly of poisoning the offending cells with toxic drugs (chemotherapy), radiation (radiotherapy), or removing them through surgery. Our understanding of the underlying mechanisms for the ageing process leaves even more to be desired. We have virtually no therapies today that can effectively halt or even slow the vaunted biological clock. All we can hope to do is to cover up the signs of ageing through various cosmetic modalities and to treat various age-related maladies (arteriosclerosis, heart disease, etc.,) with 26 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2005 biological clock. www.nexusmagazine.com