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New anti-aging spa in town proves you can't fool with Mother Nature
An expensive new anti-aging spa called T.A. Sciences opened on the Upper East Side in April. Treatment —starting at $25,000. a year— is said to improve immune function, vision, skin condition and quality of life as well as increase energy and overall "well being." There are, however, two major problems: the "nutraceutical" they're selling has well-known cancer-inducing properties and there isn't any proof it can make people either look or feel younger.
Less than a month before setting up his anti-aging business at 24 East 64th Street, T.A. Sciences' founder, Noel Thomas Patton, acquired the exclusive global license for "small molecule telomerase activators" from a California-based biotechnology company called Geron. Patton, former head of a family appliance manufacturing company and Geron investor, calls the substance "TA-65," touting it as a magic molecule that can immortalize cells and reverse the effects of aging. A "Telomerase-Activating Nutraceutical Makes Cells Young Again," says the advertising on www.tasciences.com
TA-65 purportedly accomplishes these miracles by keeping the little caps at the ends of our chromosomes long with an enzyme known as telomerase —which is exactly what most cancer cells do. As a normal cell divides, its telomeres gradually erode, eventually becoming so short that the cell is marked for death. As harsh as this may sound, it's exactly what should happen. "Human cells count the number of times they divide" explains aging and cancer expert Jerry W. Shay, stressing the cancer-prevention advantage of this maneuver. It's a "cancer brake" he adds. 1 [Shay 2007, p.115]
However, telomerase, which plays a role early in a cell's life, is somehow reactivated by tumor cells. In fact, says Shay, who works at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, "Telomerase is detected in the vast majority of human cancers."1 [Shay 2007, p. 121] Yet, despite undeniable evidence that telomerase activation can result in cancer, T.A. Sciences' spokesperson Eda Kalkay says "safety is a priority," and claims their telomerase-stimulator, TA-65 has "no adverse effects." [press release] Kalkay backs this up with evidence from a 24-week "trial" conducted by a biostatistician rather than doctors. But it appears that only immediate adverse events were monitored, not safety. It takes far longer than 6 months for cancers to develop. Spotting a malignancy would take at least two years of careful surveillance by practicing oncologists who know what to look for.
Proving TA-65 effective is also unlikely. Immortalizing a few cells doesn't translate into making whole human beings healthier and happier. A tumor is, after all, pretty much a big lump only; clusters of cells run out of control. More than a decade ago, in1996, telomerase researcher Carol Greider got so fed up with the life-span enhancing hype about the enzyme she helped discover, according to science journalist Steve Hall, that she went on public record saying telomere length "is clearly not directly correlated" with aging or, by inference, longevity.2 [Hall 2003, p.143] Even the premise that simply lengthening telomeres can reverse aging is scientifically unsound. Scientists, including the Salk Institute's Ramiro Verdun and Jan Karlseder, are now convinced that "structure, not length, is the main determinant of telomere function." [Verdun 2007, p. 925] Simply making dysfunctional telomeres longer is not likely to re-establish them as protective units.
So buyer beware. Telomere shortening is one of Nature's more successful cancer-blocking strategies —play around with it at your own risk. The good news is that much of the time cancer and aging share the same rather than antagonistic biologies. Some scientists, including the National Institute of Health's Toren Finkel, even think the "secrets to extending our own lifespans are concealed somewhere in a cancer cell's peculiar immortality" and are working furiously to find ways of fighting both.3 [Finkel 2007, p. 768] Unfortunately, it seems that T.A. Sciences picked the wrong path to eternal youth.
References:
(1) Shay JW, Wright WE. Hallmarks of telomeres in ageing research. Journal of Pathology 2007; 211:114-123.
(2) Hall SS. Merchants of Immortality. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
(3) Finkel T, Serrano M, Blasco MA. The common biology of cancer and ageing. Nature 2007; 448:767-774.