Longevity Without Disruption

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

Via EurekAlert: "Within a hormone-triggered cascade of molecular signals that plays a crucial for a wide range of physiological functions, researchers for the very first time have identified a protein that functions specifically to extend lifespan and youthfulness -- without disrupting fertility, immunity or the organism's response to stress. ... meddling with this versatile pathway to exploit its beneficial effects on aging and life span inevitably invited a host of problems ... If you were to interfere with insulin signaling in humans in order to prolong life, you would induce diabetes right away ... So, the central question became whether we would be able to genetically manipulate one element of the pathway without disrupting its additional functions ... Smk-1 is the first known gene that regulates longevity without affecting other vital functions of the insulin signaling pathway."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/si-ftf030706.php