Introduction
Life. Death. And a thin line between the two. That’s what it is to live. That’s why we want to live. That’s why we try our hardest to stay alive. In the past, no matter how much we tried, we couldn’t prevent the entire human race’s fate. However, as technology or more specifically biotechnology advances, the implausible solution to this destiny may be near. However, not many have considered the idea of totally preventing the concept of death.
When we get older, we find that death is no longer scary, but rather just a part of life. We live with that fact, and carry on so that we can make the best of the time we have left. But what if we took death out of the equation? Is this possible? And if it is, what problems would we incur? No human being wants to die, but some are pushed to a point where there is no option but death, evident from the recent pandemic. It is scary how life is so important yet so delicate.
As biotechnology expands, the limits that we believe exist are simply pushed one more step toward finding answers. Our very understanding of life could change if we could stop the process that results in our death. New solutions like RNAi and Stem Cells are just some of the few ways doctors and scientists have tried to understand and potentially prevent death. Though we haven’t been using these therapies/treatments on humans, there is still a huge window for potential, and that is why the sky's the limit. With such bewildering innovations, life, itself, could be redefined.
Telomerase and Stem Cells
Life’s timeline can be estimated by how long we have until our cells reach senescence. Senescence is defined as “the condition or process of deterioration with age [and the] loss of a cell's power of division and growth.” How does this happen? Well, every single time your cell divides, a small section of the DNA’s telomere falls off. The telomere is meant to protect and safeguard the cell’s DNA during replication. Replication and division happen so often in most cells that telomeres are relatively long. However, there is a point in which the telomere would have dissipated completely. Once this occurs, the cell is senescent and it is going to induce apoptosis (safe cell death). When many cells become senescent (usually because of age), bruises and cuts heal slower, and this is because more cells have become senescent and cannot divide to replenish the damaged cells. Senescence is a large aspect of aging and it is partly the culprit to the symptoms that come with it. However, scientists have recently discovered that an enzyme called telomerase can replenish the telomeres of the DNA strand and essentially allow the cell to replicate an infinite amount of times. Thus, decreasing (or eliminating) one of the main aspects of aging. Though this was a large breakthrough, this special enzyme is only found in stem cells.
Stem cells are cells that can change into several cell types. If enough of these cells are given to a patient, a diseased organ can recover fully! The reason why this treatment isn’t given to patients on a much larger scale is that they are very limited in quantity and are tremendously difficult to obtain. In addition, many sources say if more cells had the enzyme telomerase, there would be a high possibility of cancer. This is because cancer is caused by errors in our genetic processes, and by giving a cell the ability to replicate infinitely many times these genetic processes would repeat so often that there is simply no way that an error would not occur. Thus, a patient injected with these stem cells would be placed at a higher risk of cancer. Despite these concerns, there is no limit to the potential of stem cells and telomerase’s possibilities (if controlled!).
RNAi
RNAi, on many occasions, is a therapy used by scientists to investigate the function of certain genes in our DNA. The way these functions are discovered is through the silencing of these genes. To silence these genes a special molecule, siRNA, is needed. This molecule is especially useful because we can understand the function of a gene from the effects it has on the body after turning it off. This is also useful for treating diseases that are known to be caused by a certain gene because they would then be silenced by doctors and scientists through the use of this special molecule. According to umassmed.edu,
“RNAi is much more than a research tool. RNAi encompasses an array of ancient and sophisticated cellular mechanisms that regulate a variety of biological functions. Argonaute proteins bind many naturally occurring small RNAs to defend against transposable elements, maintain chromosome structure and stability, and regulate developmental timing and differentiation. For example, microRNAs represent a natural form of developmentally-important siRNAs. Like siRNAs, microRNAs are made by Dicer, but microRNA derive from single-stranded RNAs that fold back on themselves to generate small regions of double-stranded RNA—so-called "stem-loops"— instead of the long double-stranded RNA that produces siRNAs. microRNAs can guide Argonaute proteins to repress messenger RNAs that match the miRNA incompletely, allowing one microRNA to regulate hundreds of genes. Humans make more than 500 distinct microRNAs, and the inappropriate production of specific microRNAs has been linked to several diseases. Drugs to inhibit disease-causing microRNAs are now being tested as therapies for several human diseases.” (1)
This may be a bit difficult to understand, but after rereading it multiple times it may start to make sense. Essentially, the author is trying to say that the use of this therapy can be approached differently when it comes to preventing human diseases. Instead of the use of siRNAs for silencing genes, microRNA can be used to guide Argonaute proteins and eventually regulate several hundreds of genes. However, when microRNAs are made in inappropriate quantities or are mutated in some way because of the human body, they can lead to diseases. This may draw some serious speculation to the effectiveness of this treatment, but it is a very strong candidate to solve this problem if regulated properly.
Extension but Not Prevention
Though there have been many innovations in the biotech field, there has also been some rising conflict as to whether we can truly fully prevent the aging process. Looking towards the future, innovations always pave ways for creativity and new thinking. Telomerase and RNAi are outstanding discoveries that could be used as each takes on a problem associated with aging. Telomerase effectively removes the issues associated with senescence as it prevents the cell from achieving it. This extends the life of cells, which results in the extension of human life. RNAi, on the other hand, can be used to prevent a disease or hereditary illness by tracking a fatal gene and silencing it--leading to an extension of life. But as shown before, each has its corresponding issues and it begs the question: is preventing the process of aging possible? According to Futurism, cancer may just be the reason for our inevitable death: “Even if the body could be trained to get rid of cells that become sluggish and lose their functionality, there are certain cells that reproduce at a higher rate among older people, which leads to an increased risk of cancer. The researchers state that all of us will develop cancer cells at some point in our lives, even if we never display any symptoms. The problem here is that these cells don’t play fair when it comes to natural selection.” Evidently, cancer may be the one disease that could destroy the chances of potentially fixing this “issue.” I put the issue in quotes because can it really be asserted that this occurrence/process is an issue? After reading Erdman Palmore’s The Gerontologist, it is clear that there may be several benefits with aging: “Advantages to society of older persons include their lower criminal activity, greater political participation, increasing voluntary organization participation, work abilities, and visual perception abilities. Advantages for the individual include less criminal victimization, fewer accidents, social security and other pensions, guaranteed minimum income, tax benefits, Medicare, free programs and reduced rates, freedom from child rearing and work.” From this quote, it is clear that certain aspects of life simply cannot be achieved without the process of aging, a natural occurrence. Many people don’t want to die, because it takes us from something that we treasure. But dying may be the only thing that will take us to a place that holds the real treasure.
Sources: UMassMed, Futurism, The Gerontologist.
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