ScienceDaily reports on progress in understanding how sirtuin enzymes - connected to longevity, metabolism and the mechanisms of calorie restriction - work and can be controlled. "Molecules that mimic nicotinamide and block sirtuin's activity might be useful in treating diabetes, based on Puigserver's recent discoveries. Or the structural clues could be used to do the opposite, to turn up sirtuin's activity, which might restart a tumor suppressor gene called p53 that is erroneously shut off in many cancers. But those are just two examples." One of the reasons this research is funded is that it can be presented as the search for cures rather than the search for longevity - sadly, the stigma is still there for serious anti-aging science.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329144030.htm