What Causes Cells to Age and Die?

Do you think you know what causes cells to age and die?

Because of all the recent press about (including a Nobel Prize for) telomere research, my first reaction to this question would have been, “Oo - oo, I know, … it’s telomere shortening”.

That was, until I read a recent article in the Financial Times reporting on research from England’s Newcastle University and Germany’s University of Ulm on the Biochemical Pathway of Cell Aging.

Professor Thomas Kirkwood, Director of Newcastle’s Institute of Ageing and Health, commented, “There has been a huge amount of speculation about how blocking telomere erosion might cure ageing and age-related diseases … The telomere story has over-promised and the biology is more complicated” [than that simplistic explanation].

The research was originally published in the journal of Molecular Systems Biology and employed a systems biology approach. Systems biology focuses on the complex interactions in biological systems – looking at the organism as a whole rather than “zooming in” on each tiny piece. Today’s computer technology contributes much to making a systems biology approach feasible.

What the systems biology approach of this study revealed is that, as cells grow older, the risk of precancerous mutations increases. When an aging cell detects serious DNA damage, it alerts cell mitochondria to produce free radicals which prevent further cell division or even destroy the damaged cell, thus averting progression to a full-blown cancer.

The study suggests that trying to extend cell life by protecting telomeres may be dangerous.

“It is absolutely essential to tread carefully in trying to alter processes that cause cells to age, because the last thing we want is to help age-damaged cells from breaking out to become malignant,” warned Prof. Thomas von Zglinicki, Professor of Cellular Gerontology at Newcastle.

There are certainly no easy answers in the search for longer healthspans.

Tags: research on cell death and aging, telomere research, systems biology research into aging, mechanism of cell aging, body’s natural defense against cancer, extending telomeres to extend life, longer healthspan, anti-aging research