[ExI] First hint that body’s ‘biological age’ can be reversed

[Dave Sill]

This is long but has lots of details missing from the popular press
coverage. I'm just including the intro because the article has graphics and
links and because of copyright law.

https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2019/09/07/1st-age-reversal-results-is-it-hgh-or-something-else/
















*Yesterday, the TRIIM study was described in science news headlines around
the world, though, through a glitch, the original research paper is not yet
on the Aging Cell web site. (You saw it first here.) I refer you to the
writeup in Nature’s News section for a full summary of the paper, and in
this column I will add my personal framing, and what I know about the study
from private connection to its authors and one of the subjects. The big
news is setback of the epigenetic clock, by several methylation measures.
Instead of getting a year older during the trial, nine subjects got a year
younger, on average, based on the version of the Horvath methylation clock
that best predicts lifespan. The study had been originally designed to
regrow the thymus. (Loss of thymus function has been linked to the collapse
of the immune system that occurs typically before age 70.)  Imaging showed
that the functional part of the thymus expanded over the course of the
trial, and blood tests confirmed improved immune function. The treatment
included human growth hormone (HGH)MetforminVitamin DZincDHEAIt is my
belief that the age of our bodies is controlled by several biological
clocks. (Greg Fahy, who conceived and conducted the TRIIM study, shares
this perspective.) Candidates for clocks include Thymic
involutionMethylation profileTimekeeper in the hypothalamusTelomere
lengthPerhaps some changing homeostatic state of signal molecules and
transcription factors circulating in the bloodThis story is about #1 and
#2.  To be explicit, I’m saying that the body doesn’t wear out with age,
but rather aging is a continuation of the timed growth and development
program into a phase of late-life self-destruction. Just as growth and
development are under epigenetic control. *
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