Articles
From Soil to SENS
Five years ago began one of the most interesting collaborative research projects in the anti-aging field. The concept was bioremediation of indigestible metabolic byproducts in order to improve the health and functioning of human cells. It is well known that these byproducts are prevalent in cases of Alzheimer’s (amyloid beta and tau proteins) and heart disease (7 ketocholesterol) among many other age-related diseases. For whatever evolutionary reason, the human body does not produce enzymes to break down this “junk”. Aubrey De Grey of the SENS Foundation theorized that out in the wilds of nature there must be some bacteria that break down this junk. Thus the research of LysoSENS was born.
Aubrey de Grey:
"Eventually, these cells can't process any more of this junk, and they stop working correctly. This failure is the key cause of atherosclerosis (the unstable buildups, called plaques, that build up in the artery wall and eventually burst, causing heart attacks and strokes). As the cells responsible for clearing toxic fatty materials out of the blood vessels become engorged with indigestible materials, they cease functioning and die, leaving their corpses behind to build up in the vessel. Failure to process recalcitrant junk within the cell is also important in several types of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's) and in macular degeneration (the main cause of blindness in the old). So, it's very important that we find a way to prevent or reverse the build-up of these wastes within the cell."
The SENS Foundation put out a call around the world for interested longevity-minded people to send in soil samples. Immortality Institute members responded, enthusiastically sending in hundreds of samples from gardens, forests, deserts, and swamps. The tale of cooperation and outreach is preserved in this Imminst forum. The research was also the subject of an Imminst Sunday Evening Chat in 2007.
Since the call went out, researcher John Schloendorn and several other Immortality Institute members (see below) have been testing the soil samples for bacterial enzymes that could break down the plaques and other junk. A multitude of bacteria were tested on the various types of cellular and extra-cellular junk to see which ones would thrive. Several bacteria were up to the job. The specific enzymes from these bacteria were isolated and now await further testing for human use, efficacy, and safety. In addition several known enzymes that were previously unused for the purpose of breaking down plaques/junk - but could theoretically do the job - were tested.
The latest review paper on the entire effort was recently published in Rejuvenation Research 12(6):411-9 (2009). (A reminder, Imminst members get Rejuvenation Research online at a steep discount)
Authors:
Imminst Members
Others:
Tim Webb, David Jackemeyer, Lijing Jiang, Jacques Mathieu, Jonathan Sankman, Lindsey Sherman, Lauri Tontson, Ateef Qureshi, Pedro Alvarez, Bruce Rittmann
Abstract:
A major driver of aging is catabolic insufficiency, the inability of our bodies to break down certain substances that accumulate slowly throughout the life span. Even though substance buildup is harmless while we are young, by old age the accumulations can reach a toxic threshold and cause disease. This includes some of the most prevalent diseases in old age-atherosclerosis and macular degeneration. Atherosclerosis is associated with the buildup of cholesterol and its oxidized derivatives (particularly 7-ketocholesterol) in the artery wall. Age-related macular degeneration is associated with carotenoid lipofuscin, primarily the pyridinium bisretinoid A2E. Medical bioremediation is the concept of reversing the substance accumulations by using enzymes from foreign species to break down the substances into forms that relieve the disease-related effect. We report on an enzyme discovery project to survey the availability of microorganisms and enzymes with these abilities. We found that such microorganisms and enzymes exist. We identified numerous bacteria having the ability to transform cholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol. Most of these species initiate the breakdown by same reaction mechanism as cholesterol oxidase, and we have used this enzyme directly to reduce the toxicity of 7-ketocholesterol, the major toxic oxysterol, to cultured human cells. We also discovered that soil fungi, plants, and some bacteria possess peroxidase and carotenoid cleavage oxygenase enzymes that effectively destroy with varied degrees of efficiency and selectivity the carotenoid lipofuscin found in macular degeneration.
For more reading on the concept of LysoSENS along with links to video of conference presentations visit the SENS Foundation LysoSENS page.
As mentioned previously, the Immortality Institute and its members played a key role in the successful launch of LysoSENS. It is this type of collaboration that typifies the more open source can-do research attitude of recent years and hopefully will lead to more valuable discoveries in the future. Many thanks to all those who sent in soil samples and the members who conducted the research.
by Justin Loew