Are you familiar with Aubrey de Grey’s thinking on this?
To summarize, from memory, cancers can be broadly divided into two classes:
about 85% of cancers rely on lengthening telomeres via telomerase
the other 15% of cancers rely on some alternative lengthening of telomeres mechanism (“ALT”)
The first, big class, can be solved if we can prevent cancers from using telomerase. In his 2007 book “Ending Aging”, de Grey and his co-author Michael Rae wrote about “Whole-body interdiction of lengthening of telomeres” (WILT), which was about using gene therapy to remove telomerase genes in all somatic cells. Then, stem cell therapy could be used to produce new telomeres for those cases where the body usually legitimately uses telomerase.
But research has moved on since then, and this might not be necessary. One promising approach is Maia Biotech’s THIO, a small molecule drug which is incorporated into the telomeres of cancer cells, compromises the telomeres’ structure, and results in rapid cell death. They are currently preparing for phase 2 for a few different clinical trials.
For the other 15% of cancers, the ALT mechanism is as far as I know not as well understood, and I haven’t heard of a promising general approach to cure it. But it seems plausible that it could be a similar affair in the end.
Are you familiar with Aubrey de Grey’s thinking on this?
To summarize, from memory, cancers can be broadly divided into two classes:
about 85% of cancers rely on lengthening telomeres via telomerase
the other 15% of cancers rely on some alternative lengthening of telomeres mechanism (“ALT”)
The first, big class, can be solved if we can prevent cancers from using telomerase. In his 2007 book “Ending Aging”, de Grey and his co-author Michael Rae wrote about “Whole-body interdiction of lengthening of telomeres” (WILT), which was about using gene therapy to remove telomerase genes in all somatic cells. Then, stem cell therapy could be used to produce new telomeres for those cases where the body usually legitimately uses telomerase.
But research has moved on since then, and this might not be necessary. One promising approach is Maia Biotech’s THIO, a small molecule drug which is incorporated into the telomeres of cancer cells, compromises the telomeres’ structure, and results in rapid cell death. They are currently preparing for phase 2 for a few different clinical trials.
For the other 15% of cancers, the ALT mechanism is as far as I know not as well understood, and I haven’t heard of a promising general approach to cure it. But it seems plausible that it could be a similar affair in the end.