An Update on GADD45 Research
A Russian group has been investigating the effects of GADD45 on life span in flies, which I noted last year. Here is a post from one of the researchers outlining the present state of research: "As I wrote earlier, we were able to do while his most important discovery - show that activation of the GADD45 gene by genetic methods leads to longer life of fruit flies up to 80%. Our research also showed that in old age animals are not able to activate their own GADD45, which leads to deterioration of stress resistance and aging (article forthcoming). Transcription factor FOXO, which plays a role in anti-aging generally known (it provides the ability to handle stress, suppressed IGF-1 signaling), causes DNA repair through GADD45. GADD45 is controlled by another gene of longevity - SIRT1. We are now looking for investors to look for substances capable of restoring expression of the gene GADD45 in older individuals to the level inherent in the young. ... Ability of cells to maintain a high level of inducible GADD45 with age could be an excellent marker for longevity of the individual. To prove this, it is necessary to conduct a screening study among different age groups and centenarians." We will see a lot of this in the years ahead: the financial success achieved by researchers in the field of sirtuins, despite a lack of practical results, will attract a great many research groups to try to slow aging through metabolic manipulation. Unfortunately this is the long, hard path to a poor end goal: as a strategy for tackling aging it is a bad choice when compared to the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence.