Almost all of its history, mankind has been looking for the secret of eternal youth, the first mention of something like this appears already in Herodotus, who wrote about the source of eternal youth somewhere in Ethiopia. This legend gained the greatest popularity in the 16th century, when Juan Ponce de Leon was looking for him.
Modern science has approached the problem from the other side - from the side of genetics. For most people, genetic modifications exist only in science fiction, but they have already become a reality. Meet Elizabeth Parrish - the first genetically modified human.
In 2015, 45-year-old Elizabeth, the head of a large research company BioViva, began a course of gene therapy, which was supposed to slow down or even stop the aging process. In 2018, the first stage was completed successfully.
But first, a little about the essence. In 1961, it was found that a cell can divide a certain number of times until its protective processes - telomeres - reach their minimum size. Losing protection, the cell stops dividing and the aging process begins.
On the other hand, the shorter the telomeres, the older the body, and without them there is a high risk of damage or mutation of the nucleus. Therefore, Parrish decided to conduct an experiment to artificially lengthen telomeres. The woman herself became the subject.
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It was impossible to predict the consequences of the experiment, so Elizabeth had to record a video message, where she confirmed her consent. The operation took place in Colombia, because human experimentation is prohibited in the United States and also because some of the substances used are not certified by the American commission.
In addition, old age is not a diagnosis, although it is on the international list of diseases. And this only made it more difficult to obtain permission.
Immediately before the procedure, blood was taken from Parrish, the length of her telomeres then was 6.71 kb, and already in March 2016 - 7.33 kb. This year, two independent commissions confirmed that Elizabeth's body was 20 years younger, which also affected her appearance.
“We started all this in order to convey to society, to show that gene therapy to combat aging, to prevent dangerous age-related diseases already exists, it works. Let it be on one person, but such an example already exists.
We must not close our eyes to this when the world's population is aging and hundreds of thousands of people die every day in agony from diseases that are triggered by the decrepitude of the body,”shared Elizabeth.
It should be noted that the experiment is not over yet. Yes, scientists have managed to achieve tangible results, but no one knows what to expect in the long term. But in any case, this is a huge step forward, although we suspect that the biggest problems will not be the development of new methods, but the confrontation with an overly conservative population.
What do you think is the future of genetic modifications? Share your opinion in the comments.