Aubrey de Grey on Chemicals That Can Reverse Aging Damage

by

Aubrey de Grey has been a primary leader advocating, fundraising and advancing the science of Antiaging technology for the past three decades. He provided his comment on the work of Harvard’s David Sinclair for chemically reversing cellular aging.

The work in 2018 that small molecules could kill zombie, dysfunctional old senescent cells has led to the creation of many biotech companies working on senescent cells. The drugs used to treat senescent cell are called synolytics.


Researchers have shown that senolytics can improve the reparative properties of human heart cells by eliminating senescent “zombie cells,” known to be associated with cardiovascular disease and other age-related conditions. Zombie cells release chemicals that can be harmful to nearby cells, affecting cell survival and reparative potential. The build-up of these zombie cells in our bodies promotes aging and age-related conditions, including cardiovascular disease. In lab studies, senolytics have been shown to improve conditions such as cataracts, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, kidney problems, and age-related loss of muscle. Overall, they have been shown to improve poor physical function and extend health span and lifespan.

Harvard’s David Sinclair and his research team have identified six chemical cocktails, which, in less than a week and without compromising cellular identity, restore a youthful genome-wide transcript profile and reverse transcriptomic age.

Rejuvenation by age reversal can be achieved, not only by genetic, but also chemical means.

Molecules that reverse cellular aging and rejuvenate human cells without altering the genome. Sinclair and his team developed high-throughput cell-based assays that distinguish young from old and senescent cells, including transcription-based aging clocks and a real-time nucleocytoplasmic compartmentalization (NCC) assay.

8 thoughts on “Aubrey de Grey on Chemicals That Can Reverse Aging Damage”

  2. Some biohackers will probably try this cocktails which will be legally approved by the FDA in 2035-2040. Again the FDA is the main problem in the longevity.

  3. Translated by google from a foreign magazine:

    Life is short
    Examples of longevity studies Brenner refutes
    Red wine
    The claim: resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, improves cell survival and extends life span

    What does Brenner say? Resveratrol extends the life of yeast, and there is no evidence that it works on humans. Moreover, only 1 in 5 million cells extended life thanks to it

    Rejuvenating gardens
    The claim: Four genes, discovered by Nobel laureate Prof. Shinya Yamanaka, can transform adult cells into stem cells, which can transform into any other cell type in the body – and some claim that they can cause rejuvenation of the entire body

    What does Brenner say? These are genes with a high probability of causing cancerous tumors

    A drug to prevent transplant rejection
    The claim: Rapamycin (a TOR inhibitor), which is used in organ transplantation, was found to extend the life of mice

    What does Brenner say? In humans, the effect is different, and the drug impairs, for example, the benefits of physical activity for adults

    cell repair
    The claim: according to gerontologist Dr. Aubrey de Gray, repairing seven damages caused to cells, using tools such as caloric restriction, delays aging

    What does Brenner say? There are no experiments on animals that support this theory, which at its core misses an important biological principle: the maximum lifespan is genetically encoded in us, and the process of the body’s withdrawal after the end of the fertile period is inevitable

    • Brenner will be Brenner (whoever that is), I guess.

      “What does Brenner say? There are no experiments on animals that support this theory, which at its core misses an important biological principle: the maximum lifespan is genetically encoded in us, and the process of the body’s withdrawal after the end of the fertile period is inevitable”

      No such thing, otherwise everybody would die at 60, rather than being spread over a 60 year interval afterwards. There is no preprogrammed time to die. It’s more like being pulled down by a huge pack of hyenas. It may (as things currently stand) be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean there is a sacred number burned into our chromosomes that corresponds to a precise number of orbits around our star.

      Kill or drive off all the hyenas (or just get the heck out of the hyena pit) and let’s see what comes next.

  4. It’s a cool reaction. An ultra mainstream orthodox paper says, we can reverse aging without messing with cell identity, using a relatively simple, quick process.

    He cautions it’s still a long road.

    The fact that this is the state of the art at the beginning of the Singularity suggests that in 10 years there might be dramatic progress on aging reversal.

    What a weird world THAT would make. Billions of old people people getting younger and healthier. What are old, experienced but physically young people even like?

Comments are closed.