4 ms·

Except delayed aging will increase the occurrences of cancer. Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough.

PeterWhittaker 13y ago
Everyone dies if they live long enough. Since practical immortality is pretty much out of the question, for now, I'll quite happily accept deferred aging, which would seem to imply generally good health longer and later in life, followed by one or more catastrophic illnesses in the terminal phase... ...which hopefully will be brief. As to pain, why do you think we have painkillers and euthanasia? (Well, we "don't" have the latter, in Canada, really, but we will by the time I need it.) I would much rather live longer and be generally healthy then die horribly and suddenly that live generally healthily for a shorter time then waste away for years and years and years....
exratione 13y ago
Actually delaying aging implies also delaying the root causes that lead to the rise in cancer risk with age. E.g. calorie restriction induces an altered state of metabolism that delays aging, reduces cancer risk alongside extending life, and lowers measures such as nuclear DNA damage levels thought to drive cancer risk.
ye 13y ago
> Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731093255.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731093255.ht...
ekianjo 13y ago
>Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough. Not true. There are tons of people above 100 years old who die of causes unrelated to cancer. Obviously there are well known mechanisms that link cancer to aging but it does not mean there's a probability of 1 to get cancer as you get older.
- photorized 13y ago
  Cancer isn't linked to "aging", but rather to the nature of DNA replication. That process results in gradual accumulation of inaccuracies. Enough mutations -> cancer.
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    Nope, it's not about the number of mutations you get. It's also about the repair mecanisms of your DNA not working as well anymore. That's why cancer occurs more frequently with aging. I forgot the actual source link, but I remember seeing a publication showing how autopsies on young people who died of accidental circumstances showed tiny cancer tumors in their bodies even in their 20s-30s, and that simply these would not grow further because of the repair mechanisms being highly effective in younger organisms. So basically you get mutations in your body the whole time. Not just when you age.
    - photorized 13y ago
      That's interesting - thanks for the explanation. I will check on that research study.
    - photorized 13y ago
      reading about tumor suppressor genes... fascinating stuff. Those do seem to get worse with aging.
  - inkyoto 13y ago
    The statement is pretty much entirely incorrect apart from the gradual accumulation of "inaccuracies". Living cells constantly attempt to repair "the inaccuracies" occurring over the course of life of a cell. Reaching a beyond repair stage leads to apoptosis, or genetically programmed cell death; in other news, the cell commits suicide. A cell turns into a cancerous cell when some of the oncogenes (namely, p53 and, likely, p16) responsible for upregulating apoptosis become silenced, and the cell continues to live in a dysfunctional state as a cancerous cell. We do not know yet what excatly causes the gene silencing. At any point in life, the human body contains a number of cancerous cells that it methodically gets rid of or neutralises, which is a normal process of life. Not every cancerous cell turns into a tumor and leads to cancer We do not know yet what causes it. Many people die of an old age and do not have cancer.

Everyone dies if they live long enough. Since practical immortality is pretty much out of the question, for now, I'll quite happily accept deferred aging, which would seem to imply generally good health longer and later in life, followed by one or more catastrophic illnesses in the terminal phase... ...which hopefully will be brief. As to pain, why do you think we have painkillers and euthanasia? (Well, we "don't" have the latter, in Canada, really, but we will by the time I need it.) I would much rather live longer and be generally healthy then die horribly and suddenly that live generally healthily for a shorter time then waste away for years and years and years....

exratione 13y ago

Actually delaying aging implies also delaying the root causes that lead to the rise in cancer risk with age. E.g. calorie restriction induces an altered state of metabolism that delays aging, reduces cancer risk alongside extending life, and lowers measures such as nuclear DNA damage levels thought to drive cancer risk.

ye 13y ago

> Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731093255.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731093255.ht...

ekianjo 13y ago

>Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough. Not true. There are tons of people above 100 years old who die of causes unrelated to cancer. Obviously there are well known mechanisms that link cancer to aging but it does not mean there's a probability of 1 to get cancer as you get older.

photorized 13y ago
Cancer isn't linked to "aging", but rather to the nature of DNA replication. That process results in gradual accumulation of inaccuracies. Enough mutations -> cancer.
- ekianjo 13y ago
  Nope, it's not about the number of mutations you get. It's also about the repair mecanisms of your DNA not working as well anymore. That's why cancer occurs more frequently with aging. I forgot the actual source link, but I remember seeing a publication showing how autopsies on young people who died of accidental circumstances showed tiny cancer tumors in their bodies even in their 20s-30s, and that simply these would not grow further because of the repair mechanisms being highly effective in younger organisms. So basically you get mutations in your body the whole time. Not just when you age.
  - photorized 13y ago
    That's interesting - thanks for the explanation. I will check on that research study.
  - photorized 13y ago
    reading about tumor suppressor genes... fascinating stuff. Those do seem to get worse with aging.
- inkyoto 13y ago
  The statement is pretty much entirely incorrect apart from the gradual accumulation of "inaccuracies". Living cells constantly attempt to repair "the inaccuracies" occurring over the course of life of a cell. Reaching a beyond repair stage leads to apoptosis, or genetically programmed cell death; in other news, the cell commits suicide. A cell turns into a cancerous cell when some of the oncogenes (namely, p53 and, likely, p16) responsible for upregulating apoptosis become silenced, and the cell continues to live in a dysfunctional state as a cancerous cell. We do not know yet what excatly causes the gene silencing. At any point in life, the human body contains a number of cancerous cells that it methodically gets rid of or neutralises, which is a normal process of life. Not every cancerous cell turns into a tumor and leads to cancer We do not know yet what causes it. Many people die of an old age and do not have cancer.