Promising Results from the First Human Gene Therapy to Reverse Biological Aging

By: | May 4th, 2016

Scientists of BioViva USA have declared that they’ve completed the first successful gene therapy to reverse biological aging.

Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of BioViva, USA, claims to have successfully reversed the effects of natural aging after her company’s experimental therapy reversed 20 years of normal telomere shortening.

What are telomeres and how is the telomere score calculated?

Telomeres are short segments of DNA that are found at the ends of each chromosome, and Telomere length shortens with age. Telomeres act as ‘buffers’ for the wear and tear of natural aging.

The telomere score is calculated according to telomere length of white blood cells (T-lymphocytes); the higher the telomere score, the “younger” the cells.

In order to prove that this gene therapy is safe, Parrish became the first person to get the treatment using this technology.

It worked!

In September 2015, when she was 44 years old, Parrish received two gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age and another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.

In March 2016, the same tests were taken, and it was found that Parrish’s telomeres had lengthened by approximately 20 years, from 6.71kb to 7.33kb, which means that her white blood cells have become biologically younger.

Parrish said, “Current therapeutics offer only marginal benefits for people suffering from diseases of aging. Additionally, lifestyle modification has limited impact for treating these diseases. Advances in biotechnology are the best solution, and if these results are anywhere near accurate, we’ve made history.”

The therapy looks very promising, but the results have yet to be verified by an independent source.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

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