COVID virus exhibits a specific protein on its surface, a so called "spike" protein. Vaccine developers created instructions for the body to produce this "spike" protein. Immune system destroys the "spikey" and clears COVID virus along the way. Bingo!
We know that similar instructions mechanism is used by placenta cells to direct growth of all tissues in the baby's body. We also have anecdotal evidence that these instructions can serve as a fountain of youth for adults.
To cure diseases of aging all that remains to figure out it what instructions (RNA segments) are essential in the cocktail excreted by placenta cells. Thanks to COVID, we now have the production capacity to produce RNA segments to vaccinate all earthlings from aging.
The right IT platform can accelerate this process by 5 years. Take a look at our unique capabilities.
We are made of proteins. It is a common knowledge that DNA is the source of programming for our body, specifically the instructions to produce proteins. In principle the body manufacturing process consists of just 2 steps:
- A copy of the section of the DNA is made (in the nucleus of the cell).
- This copy, called mRNA, is used to produce proteins (by the ribosomes).
It is interesting that the cell seems to be ignorant to the source of the mRNA. It can come from its own nucleus, from the virus, or from the mRNA-based vaccine. Cell sees the mRNA and starts producing proteins :-)
This is how viruses make us sick, they hijack our own protein making machinery with the wrong RNA instructions. It helps to remember that each cell has the same DNA, but it only transcribes very small parts of it to RNA. As a result each cell has a specialty, and when we age, this specialty gets lost somewhat, so in liver you can find cells that transcribe RNA that make it act for example like skin cells. This shows that precise, specialized RNA-guided protein production is the key to health.
Virus is just a bubble with the RNA and it is so small that it can sneak into the cell without a problem. Note that many other things can't pass through the cell membrane, and it is a problem of the drug delivery mechanism, which gives Pharma so much headache. Not an issue with the RNA. There is also no issue with the body rejecting the RNA either, and viruses use this to their advantage. It is like taking over the command line from the ground control.
RNA is easily destroyed (by enzymes) before it gets into the right place in the cell. So vaccine developers have managed to put RNA in the bubble to safely deliver those instructions to the protein factories (ribosomes).
What is surprising is that our cells themselves produce similar RNA bubbles and send them out to other cells. These bubbles are called Exosomes and they are excreted by most of the cells in our body. This is the way cells coordinate their activities for the wellbeing of the body.
Ability to produce instructions, packaged in delivery bubbles (Exosomes) artificially, scaled now for the COVID-19 vaccines, is a huge deal. We will now be able to use it to save ourselves from becoming invalid and senile at the end of our lives. COVID-19 has sped up the time to market for Exosomes by at least a decade.
I know of 2 labs that already breed Exosomes in the US. They take the Exosomes from the specific placenta cells (MSC) that direct other cells in the early stages of life. These Exosomes can be multiplied and then injected into the bloodstream to act as the fountain of youth for our organs. Well, now with COVID vaccines advances, we do not need the placenta cells, we can produce Exosomes 100% artificially. No ethical issues, no human tissue, easier FDA approval.
What we do not yet know is what specific Exosomes to manufacture. We need to study the Exosomes excreted by MSC and Hypothalamus stem cells.
But once we do, this is the end of the disease of aging and perhaps of aging itself.
Information technology is essential to here to help speed up the research, the clinical trials and the FDA approval management process, perhaps by 3-5 years.
- This is a highly regulated field. To speed up the process we need to digitize and enforces compliance protocols.
- There is an enormous amount of data that needs Data Governance.
- Healthcare has challenging data privacy laws.
- AI is critical accelerator but sourcing data remains a huge challenge, due to privacy issues. If there was a way for AI to process health data, without asking people to give their data away - this could be the key enabler for research, trials and clinical monitoring applications. See my open source effort for this https://github.com/tradle/cloudpal
- Clinical trials are expensive (3 stages cost upwards of $50M). Trial often fails and all starts anew. IT creates automation, which decreases costs.
- Trials require identification, screening and monitoring of candidates.
- Trials require identification, screening and monitoring of participating organizations and processes.
- Trials require auditable transactional structured messaging with participants, both subjects and staff.
- Trials require workflow for participants and staff.
Many of the above points my current startup https://github.com/tradle handles for the financial industry, and can apply to health. See more our unique capabilities.
-
Measuring your true bio age - this is a fundamental discovery for the scientific method to be able to work. Until now we could not measure the effectiveness of any interventions that claim to counter or slow our aging process. We have a multi-billion industry that touts diet, fasting, supplements, exercise, hot-cold showers, hyperbaric chambers, special type of breathing, etc. etc. But none could be measured to verify the claims, until just a couple of years ago. There is at least one product, MyDNAge that claims to be based on this discovery. This product was also sold on Amazon, but out of stock there now. I noticed one person who reported using it to test their supplementation with NMN and Resveratrol with cool results.
-
Replace 50% of blood plasma with a saline solution. This procedure is already approved by the FDA for the patients with rare immune diseases. At the end of 2020 2 biohackers have tried this procedure on themselves without any adverse side effects and with some interesting results.
-
Inject young plasma factors. This topic has been the subject of much hype, but perhaps we will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
-
Thymus (immunity) regeneration. The early clinical study that lasted 1 year has turned the age of 9 aged man back 2.5 years (1.5 year gain). Interestingly the rate of recovery from aging accelerated 3 times in the last 3 months).
-
Hypothalamus stem cell exosomes, a master control of aging?. These stem cells signal other cells to keep going, but they deplete with age.
-
Rejuvenation with placenta stem cell exosomes. Special cells (MSC) produce signals for fetus tissues to form, grow and repair, if injured (fetus exhibits magic powers of some salamanders that regrow limbs and organs)
-
Epigenetic reprogramming. This is the ultimate solution, perhaps. Researchers in David Sinclair's lab found a way to tell the cells of the blind mice to regrow. Blindness was chosen as a faster path to clinic, as FDA has already approved a similar virus-based delivery method for treatment for degenerative eye disorders. But the reprogramming mechanism is generic - it can turn any cell young again, as explained in this paper's analysis on video.
What is especially promising is the research on the intersection of above ideas, using exosomes from young blood to deliver microRNA to regrow thymus by influencing the 2nd stage of epigenetic (translation from mRNA to proteins). Another study showed that a single dose of intravenous administration of placenta stem cell exosomes restored thymus architecture and function. A 2022 review showed that such exosomes can now be modified to deliver additional synthetic miRNA and mRNA material to further influence the epigenetic translation process.
Yet the path from research to the clinic is long and arduous. Longevity / anti-aging field does not even have a direct way to clinic, as FDA in the US does not currently accept anti-aging drug applications. So, all longevity interventions must disguise today as an application for a particular disease of aging, although they often apply to a much broader spectrum of ailments. In that sense they are even wider than antibiotics and antivirals, and are very much unlike a pill for specific problem, like a headache.
Meanwhile, while the most wide-range longevity solutions are fighting their way in, the more specific ones light give us an extra 10-20 year of healthspan. Senolytics, a class of drugs that fight the negative effects of accumulation of senescent cells with aging, can be our temporary savior. Note the first successful senolytics human clinical trial in 2020. Dozens more are now ongoing, watch a very thorough review of Mayo Clinic trials.
See the list of all rejuvenation clinical trials in progress.
SENS launched this field, initially with the help of $1M a year pledge from Peter Thiel. Now even crypto wealth is going into it.
See Life Extension event on Dec 3 2020, with recorded presentations by leading researchers in the longevity field.
Healthspan extension / Anti-Ageing / Longevity field is projected to become a trillion dollar industry, and it recently experienced a number of breakthroughs. See emerging specialist investors in this field:
https://www.geron.org/programs-services/reframing-aging-initiative?start=1
Aside from figuring out mRNA that needs to go into lipid bubbles (nanoparticles), researchers need to find a way to target specific tissues, avoid accumulation of nanoparticles, use different lipid layers to maximize the deliver, etc. This work is already ongoing. There is plenty of work ahead but the major blocks have been removed. Let's work together on brining the vaccines for diseases of old age to world population!