To live longer, get rid of your aging cells. The removal of end-of-life cells, called senescent, could allow you to live longer. Researchers from the College of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in the United States have even succeeded in evaluating this gain in life expectancy: it could allow people to live 27 to 35% longer.
This estimate is taken from an experiment carried out on old rodents. By specific genetic manipulation, senescent cells recognizable by the expression of a specific gene (p16Ink4a) were removed from the body of mice.
Senescence is a natural physiological aging process. At the cellular level, this means that the cells are no longer dividing. Stopping cell division causes them to die, and the cells are eventually eliminated by the immune system.
Beneficial cellular cleansing
American researchers have just proven that this process is not irreversible. With the removal of these senescent cells, the mice lived longer but also their appearance improved. At the same time as this decline in life expectancy, the mice developed fewer pathologies linked to aging (less heart disease, better kidney function, fewer cataracts). Some developed cancer at a later age.
Scientists conclude that senescence is not an essential mechanism for the body. “Genetic cleansing of senescent cells can increase longevity, protect deleterious changes in several vital tissues and organs such as the kidney or heart,” concludes Jordan Miller, author of the journal study. Nature, cited by Sciences et vie.
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