AGING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY - HEALTH-OF THE ELDERLY

The second way: the biotechnological revolution

Once the first road is finished and the second is taken, we are faced with a real revolution, given by the evolution of the biotechnological sciences. This upheaval has already begun but will find its maximum expression only over the next 15 years.
Among the elements that characterize this second path we find stem cells, cloning for therapeutic purposes, recombinant genetic technology and the acquisition of greater knowledge about the human genome. All these aspects are oriented towards a common goal, which consists in being able to modulate certain genes, creating specific proteins at will (proteomics).
By optimizing the attention and care towards our body and associating all this with the selective elimination of unwanted genes, life expectancy would rise for many over 100 years.

Stem cell therapy

Stem cells are normally present in our body. Their most interesting property is that of differentiating in any direction of the tissue scenario: for example they can transform into blood cells (red, white blood cells) or epithelial and nerve cells. For this reason, the stem cells present in a hair follicle could be stimulated to differentiate into cardiac muscle cells, capable of giving new life to a heart worn out by a heart attack. And this is only a "hypothesis: on the basis of the" chemical environment in which they are found, these cells can in fact differentiate into new biological units of the nervous, hepatic and so on.

The idea that within a few years man can exploit the enormous potential of stem cell therapy to his liking has raised an endless chorus of ethical controversies. These diatribes have focused in particular on the use for scientific purposes of stem cells present in early human embryos. Considering that from the union of two simple cells, the spermatozoon and the egg cell, a child is born within nine months , it is easy to understand the "enormous" plasticity "of fetal stem cells. This term is intended to underline their ability to orient and differentiate towards different types of tissue. Since the production and scientific use of embryonic stem cells precludes that "embryo the possibility of giving rise to a human life, the question has raised many political, ethical and religious problems.
Fetal stem cells fall into two categories: totipotent stem cells and pluripotent stem cells. The former are found in the embryo immediately after fertilization. Many people believe that at this point we can already speak of a human being and that for this reason the embryo cannot be used for scientific purposes.
Shortly after the initial division of the totipotent stem cells, stem cells defined as pluripotent arise, since, unlike the first, they do not have the ability to differentiate into any cell population (or at least they cannot do so with the current technologies available) but only in some types of tissues. For this reason these cells are not currently as important to scientists as totipotent cells. In any case they could soon become so, as soon as we discover how to stimulate their division into different cell types under the influence of suitable factors of growth.

Thanks to the enormous potential of these cells, it is not unrealistic to think that in the near future a patient suffering from a heart attack will receive a transplant of heart muscle cells generated by his own stem cells. By dividing repeatedly these cells could thus restore the functionality of the infarcted region. The same could be said for patients affected by spinal cord injuries or with previous episodes of cerebrovascular stroke. In fact, we must not forget that a small number of stem cells persist even in adulthood. Their function in many cases has not yet been fully understood but scientists may soon find the key to promoting their differentiation into any type of human cell. body. As soon as this ability is acquired, it will no longer be necessary to resort to "the use of embryonic cells. Until that moment, now close, the problem could be circumvented by the recent discovery of techniques for cloning embryonic stem cells. In this way, starting from a" only pluripotent cell, many others can be created, enormously reducing the use of human embryos.

Pharming

A biotechnological technique called "pharming" will soon allow us to extend our life expectancy, thanks to advances in recombinant technologies. These techniques make it possible to modify or insert certain genes in animals, plants and bacteria, using them as "reservoirs" for the synthesis of the proteins of our interest.

A possible variant of this therapy includes genetic modification of bananas or tomatoes to create hepatitis B vaccines. In this way the patient will become immune to the disease simply by tasting a juicy banana or a ripe tomato. In addition to doing without the still annoying injection, patients and the community would benefit from a significantly lower cost per dose, estimated in the order of 2 cents against the 99 required to produce current vaccines.
Recombinant DNA technology already exists; human insulin, used in the treatment of diabetes, and human growth hormone (hGH), useful in the treatment of growth retardation and in modern anti-aging therapies, are produced with these techniques. In some fields, on the other hand, corn or tobacco plants with a high protein content grow, thanks to a genetic modification created specifically by man to increase the concentration of certain proteins.