Epigenetic rejuvenation gears up for the clinic, the power of plasma exchange and the final interview with a longevity biotech pioneer.
Continuing our review of some of our most interesting interviews from the past year, here we focus on some of the cutting-edge work being conducted in the longevity field. Spanning progress in epigenetic rejuvenation and therapeutic plasma exchange, we also explored the sci-fi-sounding world of synthetic replacement. But first, let’s reflect on what would turn out to be the final interview with the CEO of Unity Biotechnology, which closed its doors a matter of days later, following a clinical trial failure.
Unity’s demise was not a failure for longevity
Considered one of the longevity field’s leading biotech companies, Unity was a pioneer of using senolytics – drugs that selectively eliminate or modulate senescent cells – to combat age-related diseases. While the company’s failure to meet the primary endpoint in its trial in patients with diabetic macular edema was ultimately its downfall, CEO Anirvan Ghosh exclusively told us that the clinical data generated supports the foundational hypothesis of senolytics.
“We’ve shown that targeting senescent cells can lead to improved outcomes,” he said. “At this point, we have not hit the mark, and hence we see the broad reactions in the market. But my hope for the field would be that we learn from this – to better pick the right indications, design the right studies, and continue the path forward.”
“I believe that the work we are conducting, along with others, will lead to a new class of therapeutics. But we have to be prepared for a long road, with careful science and iterative progress.”
Epigenetic rejuvenation ready for human trials
Partial epigenetic reprogramming is undoubtedly one of the most exciting areas of longevity R&D, and there is no company more advanced in its progress in this area than Life Biosciences. As the company prepares to enter the clinic in what will be the first human trials of an epigenetic rejuvenation therapy next year, we spoke with its CSO Dr Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, who told us of her confidence that the approach can be tailored for multiple organ systems.
Presenting data on Life Bio’s work in liver disease at the Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference in Copenhagen, Rosenzweig-Lipson sought to show that the science is potentially applicable across a range of age-related conditions.
“Obviously, the liver is a very different organ than the eye – neuronal retinal ganglion cells versus hepatocytes – so this represents a whole new realm for us,” she told us. “What’s amazing is the ability to transcend organs with partial epigenetic reprogramming. That’s always been the promise, but delivering on it is another matter. For a long time, we’ve said it’s not just about the eye – we can do this in other organs.”
Gene silencing and cellular rejuvenation
Sticking with cellular reprogramming for the moment, we also brought you news and interviews from many other companies taking different approaches to rejuvenation, including the emergence of Junevity, a biotech using gene silencing technology to reverse cellular dysfunction and combat diseases linked to aging. In our interview with the company’s co-founder Dr Janine Sengstack we learned how it plans to “reset” cell health by knocking down the transcription factors regulating diseased and aging pathways.
Junevity uses emerging siRNA technology to precisely target and down-regulate specific transcription factors.
“We wanted to identify new transcription factors that were not stem cell related, so the cell type stays the same the whole time – it just goes back to a healthier version of that cell,” Sengstack told us. “What we want to do is identify the right transcription factor that regulates lots of different parts of what’s going wrong, and by targeting that one factor, bring those different aspects back to the healthy state.”
Plasma exchange delivers longevity benefits
In May, we brought you the news of the first published data from a human trial of therapeutic plasma exchange that showed a reduction in participants’ biological age. The study, conducted by TPE provider Circulate Health in collaboration with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, used comprehensive molecular profiling to assess the effectiveness of various applications of the therapy. We spoke with renowned aging researcher Dr Matt Kaeberlein ahead of his own TPE session to understand more about the validity of the study.
“There was evidence for improvements in a variety of these multi-omic biological age estimates – all consistent with the idea that therapeutic plasma exchange is moving biomarkers of health in the right direction,” he told us. “I’m pretty bullish on the likelihood that some sort of therapeutic plasma exchange – perhaps in combination with IVIG, or even in combination with delivering other factors as part of the TPE – is likely to have health benefits, at least for a subset of people.”
Could synthetic replacement trump biology?
Finally, we couldn’t resist bringing you one of the more “out there” interviews we conducted with Swiss startup Sciborg, which is working on synthetic replacements for everything from blood to entire organs as part of its “cyborgization” vision. The company is betting that cybernetic technologies are capable of replacing failing biological systems and delivering healthspan and longevity gains. Co-founders Andrei Panferov and Tomer Landsberger described becoming pessimistic that targeting biological processes alone would deliver significant longevity benefits in their lifetimes, leading them to consider the potential of different approaches.
“There are companies making neural interfaces, but not with lifespan extension in mind,” Panferov told us. “There are artificial organs, but not intended for fully replacing biological ones permanently.”
Beginning with organ preservation, Sciborg intends to contribute to the development of synthetic replacement technology that its founders believe could one day result in significant lifespan extension.
“We don’t have to invent everything from scratch,” Landsberger told us. “We want to be prepared when key breakthroughs like fully functional synthetic blood or better neural interfaces arrive. Then we can integrate them quickly into our systems and push toward the bigger vision: long-term survival of the brain.”
