Possible interventions to modify aging

Abstract

The programmed aging paradigm interprets aging as a function favored by natural selection at a supra-individual level. This function is implemented, according to the telomere theory, through mechanisms that operate through the subtelomere–telomere–telomerase system. After reviewing some necessary technical and ethical reservations and providing a concise description of aging mechanisms, this work considers interventions that could lead to the control of some highly disabling characteristics of aging, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s syndromes and age-related macular degeneration, and afterwards to a full control of aging up to a condition equivalent to that of the species defined as “with negligible senescence”. The various steps needed for the development of such interventions are described along general lines.