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Mice treated with a protein from umbilical cord plasma showed improved memory
- wiradikusuma 10y agoshould we start worrying people getting pregnant just to be harvested (voluntarily or not, for themselves or for sale)?
- staticautomatic 10y agoI don't see why that would be necessary. I skimmed the article and did some additional poking around for the protein at issue. I can't tell if it's been characterized, but it may be possible to synthesize it or get cells to produce it for you- either or which would obviate the need to extract it from actual cord blood.
- car 10y agoTIMP2 is a well known protein, available from many sources like this one: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/srp3174?lang=en®ion=US http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/srp3174?la...
- moh_maya 10y agoand to add to car's point, it is a recombinant protein produced in E.coli (the foundational bacteria on which biomedical research has been built). Easy to grow, easy to manipulate. We may not need cord-blood at all. Which is a good thing in terms of the potential ethical issues that will crop up.
- ada1981 10y agoExcuse the novice question.. so this protein is available for sale online? I have an aging grandmother who is in her last weeks of life, though the doctors don't know why her body is failing despite strong heart and brain. She is up for trying most anything and would probably be up for experimenting in herself.
- alpb 10y agoListen to NPR's story for contemporary opinions against how this might not work for humans. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/19/523975844/human-umbilical-cord-blood-helps-aging-mice-remember-study-finds http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/19/52397584...
- f4rker 10y agoNpr is not a great news source
- MichaelBurge 10y agoThey already harvest abortions for stem cells and such, so this wouldn't present any new ethical issues even if it were true.
- nopinsight 10y agoCan young animal blood also make old humans smarter (sheep, goats, pigs, ...)? If so, and without adverse effects [1], an opportunity is discovered. Human cells might be better but a protein from animals might be cheaper and less ethically challenged, thus more accessible to the masses. [1] An expert please have a say whether that is plausible or not.
- patall 10y agoWell, antithrombin III is produced in goats [1], although it seems generally more effiecent [2] to produce recombinant proteins in pigs as they are closer related to us. Note, that these are recombinant proteins (human proteins produced in animals) not natural animal proteins that are used in humans. Also note that it might be sufficient to produce these proteins in another biological system like insulin in bacteria (which are easier to handle, carrier lower disease risks, better to scale etc.), it really depends on the complexity of the protein. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithrombinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithrombin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithrombinhttps://en.wikiped... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925420/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925420/
- trevyn 10y agoYou may be interested in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebrolysin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebrolysin
- crusso 10y agoMaybe, like in the mice studies, we could just graft baby goats to our backs after we hit 50. Sure, it will look odd, but that will just be the price to pay to stay young. The real trick will be to keep the goats from chewing on your shirt collars.
- CleaveIt2Beaver 10y agoI feel like this is the entry point to a new piece of dark speculative fiction, in which extreme age is venerated, and the number of goats attached to your back becomes a symbol of your wealth and power.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ronilan 10y agoSo, it's like a real life "Flowers for Algernon". Let's hope for a better ending. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon
- markdog12 10y agoIncredible book
- erickj 10y agomore like Flowers for Dracula
- leecarraher 10y agohttp://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/Flowers_for_Charlie http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/Flowers_for_Charlie so aptly named as the book was "flowers for algernon" and the movie adaptation was simply called "charly"
- car 10y agotl;dr: found that human umbilical cord plasma (= blood minus cells) improves old mice brain function (plasticity, memory), then teased out which protein in the cord plasma seems to have this effect (TIMP2) and showed that it is actively transported across blood-brain barrier (by marking it radioactively). Since this worked across species barriers, it can be speculated that a similar effect would be seen when administering TIMP2 in humans. It'll be exciting to see what comes of clinical studies, which are under way. [EDIT]:tone down expectations
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- AstralStorm 10y agoThen efficacy, safety and long term safety have to be verified. Apparently it is nowhere near as clear cut as expected. See the NPR article linked below.
- car 10y agoThe effects of TIMP2 described are very distinct. The paper was submitted in 2015, so it must have undergone a lot of scrutiny by reviewers with requests for additional experiments. How this pans out in humans and in the long term is a different story.
- f4rker 10y agoNpr is not a great news source
- maguirre 10y agohow come?
- mannykannot 10y agoA paucity of alternative facts, perhaps?
- paulajohnson 10y agoThe Rats of NIMH? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NIMH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NI...
- agumonkey 10y agoThe vampire myth is getting some fresh blood too.
- filomeno 10y agoWell, this is really not news. I knew about this for the first time in a documentary called "Monkey Shines", from 1988 ;-)
- nithinm 10y agoSo vampires have more IQ than humans? I should reconsider becoming a vampire hunter.
- ericjang 10y agoI'm reminded of this famous historical figure who inspired numerous vampire stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory
- mrkgnao 10y agoAnd a black metal band, if memory serves.
- smokinhotdaisy 10y agoSound to me they finally found the fountain of youth. hehhe
- s_kilk 10y agoDon't let Thiel hear about this.
- nvus 10y agoInstead of ape apocalypse, rat apocalypse :))
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- aleem 10y agoIt's apparently a thing now. Peter Thiel has purportedly invested millions in anti-aging. A company called Ambriosa in particular matches older people with younger people for blood routine blood transfusions. While this study may or may not work with humans, the Ambriosa project does seem to have legs.
- melling 10y agoThe company is called Ambrosia and the technique is parabiosis: https://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/peter-thiel-young-blood.html https://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/peter-thiel-young-blood.h... They've started a clinical trial: https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02803554 https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02803554
- tacomonstrous 10y agoNothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.
- slv77 10y ago"And there once was a generation so selfish they even harvested the blood of their own children to prolong their own lives." "Grandma, you're telling stories again. That couldn't possibly be true!" "I swear on my husbands grave that it was true! They even levied a tax on them and made them pay for the treatment."
- nojvek 10y agoWe are all equal but some are more equal than others. Those who are more equal have more money therefore they can officially buy bodies and rent their blood to others.
- pcrh 10y agoFor one, too frequent transfusions results in toxic excess levels of iron in the body, as humans cannot actively remove excess iron. This occurs in people with thalassemia treated with blood transfusions. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968466/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968466/
- tzakrajs 10y agoGreat news for Peter Thiel!
- leojg 10y agoAnd so the mice vampires rise and conquer the world!
- LinuxBender 10y agoWhere can I get some disease-free youngling blood?
- khana 10y agoSign me up!
- leecarraher 10y agoI generally trust Nature, but unfortunately i can only access what appears to be more of an abstract, but i hope it addresses the concerns of http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/11/22/young-blood-does-not-reverse-aging-in-old-mice-uc-berkeley-study-finds/ http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/11/22/young-blood-does-not-rev... and similar research suggesting these claims could be anomalies.
- apathy 10y ago> I generally trust Nature That's your first mistake. Don't take my word for it: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7391/fig_tab/483531a_T1.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7391/fig_tab/4835... Glamor journals are glamorous because of their "impact" (people read and cite them), and that "impact" occurs because they publish sexy (not necessarily replicable or useful) findings. Note that Nature is not a bad actor per se, and in fact their editors have completely destroyed my lack of faith in peer review lately (as an author). But the incentives for CNS journals skew in favor of "sexy" rather than "scientific", and the general tendency of NIH to fund "sexy" means that almost all research in glamor journals must be treated as suspect until replicated, ideally in a clinical trial or by an un-incentivized third party lab. > I can only access what appears to be more of an abstract There's a site called http://sci-hub.bz/ http://sci-hub.bz/ that can help. > these claims could be anomalies. You are correct, and you should heed your instincts. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a single experiment or replication is one (possibly quite principled) sample from a distribution of potential outcomes. Don't invest yet ;-) Side note: it seems like numeracy and statistical thinking is becoming the default in an educated population. You, too, are destroying my lack of faith in humanity. Thanks.
- apathy 10y agonb. Here is the link to the article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature22067.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... Here are the figures: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/fig_tab/nature22067_ft.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/fig_tab/n... If you need a fulltext link that can be arranged, but it's not a bad idea to understand how DOIs work. Here is one: doi:10.1038/nature22067 This is essentially a URI; the piece after the : is a URN, which is meant to uniquely identify a piece of published research (now expanded to include preprints and software). To route it, you'll need a URL which your browser can resolve. Happily, if you visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature22067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature22067 you will return to the paper. It is meant to provide a durable identifier, so that even Elsevier journals can't reliably hide the identity of a publication. What this also means is that "unlocking" services like Elbakyan's can use it as a primary key. Suppose you paste the URN part of that DOI onto http://sci-hub.cc/ http://sci-hub.cc/ or http://sci-hub.bz/ http://sci-hub.bz/ to complete the URL. What do you suppose happens? (This is left as an exercise for the reader, and of course I cannot and do not condone violations of copyright law. So don't read whatever might pop up, ok?)
- amykhar 10y agoWhy does this totally make of me think of the book (and movie) The Glow? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286653/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286653/
- novalis78 10y agoInteresting study in this regard: Michigan State University, East Lansing: Modulation of mammary gland development in pre-pubertal mice as affected by soya and milk protein supplements. [1] - Makes me wonder if there is a connection between the young mice and the milk they get from their mothers "isolated form of bovine alpha-lactalbumin commercially available. Alpha-lactalbumin is the primary protein in human milk, and is therefore extremely important for infant nutrition." [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=XLy5ZQVwPbcC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=TIMP2+supplement&source=bl&ots=CvFhpTzfOc&sig=RkW7kJgLFJcdZHEeuWwwNC8uJEU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEtZaghLbTAhWFNiYKHUIkDvg4ChDoAQg7MAY#v=onepage&q=TIMP2%20supplement&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=XLy5ZQVwPbcC&pg=PA24&lpg=P... [2]http://www.sovereignhealthinitiative.org/articles/antiaging.html http://www.sovereignhealthinitiative.org/articles/antiaging.... [3]http://www.daviscofoods.com/specialty/alpha.html http://www.daviscofoods.com/specialty/alpha.html