Immortality of cancer cells - a new way to deal with the aging of the human body

Having a smooth skin, thick hair that shine without any gray hair, a good health and clear mind in 80 years - sounds intriguing, and too good to be true. Certainly, no one can escape aging, and even more it ends up, I'm sorry for the banality, very sad. Nevertheless, let the aging is inevitable - what prevents us to stretch it over time or to postpone its launch? Now, the technology on which scientists are actively working, not only will give us extra years. They should change our ideas about the boundaries of youth, so that 70-80 year old grandparents in the middle of the XXI century will be considered as people in the prime of life. The paradox is that to make such a statement the worst enemy of mankind - cancer was helped. In the end, it will be fair if the cancer annually carrying away hundreds of thousands of lives, will give humankind immortality. 

To understand this, you and I have to go through several points, explaining the structure of the human and cancer cells, as well as the aging of the human body.

What is the essence of aging?

Each of our cells is able to divide about 52 times, then dies. Approaching this limit, it starts getting worse perform its functions. Senescent tissues and organs exactly composed of such "defective" cells. The counter of cell divisions are telomeres - the end parts of chromosomes that shorten with each division. In this case, telomeres play a role of "protective packing", which protects from damage important genetic information contained in the chromosomes. When the telomere end, certain genes start to damage itself, which ultimately leads to cell death.

You can make an analogy with the work of the copier. The first copy of the original document is always turns out very clear. Copy of a copy - is less clear, and so on. The same principle applies to cell DNA. Thus, this theory can explain the aging process at the cellular level.

Evolution - lyrical digression

You may ask, so why do we need these telomeres if cell may use a different system to protect DNA? The answer to this question, my dear reader, can be found in the evolution theory or in my last blog. The fact that a living being has two main objectives - to survive and produce offspring. So the task of a single individual is to live up to sexual maturity status and transfer successful genes to offspring (once reached adulthood, and even gave birth to someone - it means to be successful). Thereafter, individual organism is removed as a waste material. Therefore, along with other information in our cells, it have a self-destruct program that is responsible for aging.

How and from where cancer cells appear?

Human body contains  approximately 37 trillion cells, each of which contains information about how to re-create the entire body. The essence of a complex multicellular organism that each cell has a specialty, and in this role it indirectly helps the whole body to survive and reproduce. Complete analogy with the anthill: none of the workers directly can not reproduce, but they all help to survive and reproduce their queen, which is close to them genetically. Thus, the unit of evolution in the first example - the man, and in the second - the entire anthill.

Each cell is divided strictly by permission. The division without permits are not valid by several signaling systems - if a cell divides, it quickly and decisively destroyed. Eventually, in each cell, these alarm systems are broken one after another due to mutations in their genes. When a cell accumulates five or six relevant mutations, it begins to divide without limits. But it does not matter, because the immune system immediately punish the offender. Each of us has cancer a couple of times per day, but our lymphocytes allow this not to worry. 

And if your immune system missed incorrect cell, the cell suddenly begins to meet the rules of evolution (See above), namely surviving and producing offspring. This cell does not "know" that, without all the other cells in the body it can not survive.  More correctly cell knew it, but forgot, losing the signaling system. And now this cell is a unit of evolution, which is called cancer.

Cancer cell - therein lies the clue 

These cancer cells have the ability to "get round" the natural self-destruct mechanism that allows us to speak about their immortality. Most cancer cells uses an enzyme to "trick" the nature again and again lengthening the telomere, thus increasing their life expectancy.
Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard gave us hope: they have activated telomere on functioning organism. As a result, the telomeres lengthened, and the "magic" rejuvenation was started.
Harvard experiment - it is not a cure for death, but a very promising means of rejuvenation. Because scientists do not cause the production of abnormal amounts of telomeres, with returning the level at the time of his youth, the life of a man can significantly be extend with a minimal risk of tumors.