Category: Genetics

Categories : Ageing GeneticsTags :

Hyperbaric Oxygen Shown to Increase Telomere Length

On By ModernMedia

In a world first, the length of human telomeres in living subjects has been increased in a prospective clinical trial as part of a broader study of aging. This was accomplished with the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Telomeres place a limit on the number of times cells can be replicated, shortening by 20-40 bases every year and are thought to be one of the causes of aging as shorter telomeres are related to greater vulnerability to disease. Telomere length reduction can be slowed with diet and exercise, but not increased.

The trial recruited 35 participants aged over 63, who did not undergo diet or lifestyle changes. Each patient received 60 HBOT sessions over 90 days. The telomere length of T and B cells significantly increased by over 20%. B cells showed the greatest lengthening at 36.7% post-HBOT.

“After dedicating our HBOT research to exploring its impact on the areas of brain functionality and age related cognitive decline, we have now uncovered for the first time in humans HBOT’s biological effects at the cellular level in healthy aging adults,” said Prof Shai Efrati of the Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University. “Since telomere shortening is considered the ‘Holy Grail’ of the biology of aging, many pharmacological and environmental interventions are being extensively explored in the hopes of enabling telomere elongation. The significant improvement of telomere length shown during and after these unique HBOT protocols provides the scientific community with a new foundation of understanding that aging can, indeed, be targeted and reversed at the basic cellular-biological level.”

Source: The Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research via PRNewswire

Categories : COVID GeneticsTags :

Spike Protein Mutation May Be COVID’s Achilles Heel

On By ModernMedia

New research suggests that the very spike protein that makes SARS-CoV-2 so infective may also make it more vulnerable to vaccines. The characteristic “crown” of spikes on the virus gives rise to its “coronavirus” name.

A common mutation in the D614G protein makes a flap open in the spike. This spike makes it easier for the virus to latch onto cells, but this same flap opens a pathway directly into the virus’ core. This makes it easier for antibodies, such as those in the vaccines presently undergoing testing, to infiltrate into the virus, and disable it.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains: “The original spike protein had a ‘D’ at this position, and it was replaced by a ‘G,’ Several papers had already described that this mutation makes the protein more functional and more efficient at getting into cells.”

This mutation, they found, makes the virus replicate 10 times faster and also makes it more infectious.

When hamsters were exposed to the mutated and unmutated coronavirus strains, the ones infected with the mutated strain were found to transmit the virus much faster than those infected with the unmutated strain. Neither strain seemed to make the hamsters sicker, suggesting that the mutation does not make the virus more lethal. Researchers caution that the animal test results may not hold true for humans, and that constant vigilance in observing and documenting mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus is necessary. 

Source: Medical Xpress