Can young blood stop people from getting old?
Can young blood stop people from getting old?
Eighteen till I die. That seems to be eccentric tech billionaire Bryan Johnson’s life goal. He has spent millions of dollars on medical treatment and diagnostics to slow down (and maybe) reverse the ageing process. The 45-year-old hasn’t given up yet. He is now swapping blood with his teenage son and his septuagenarian father.
In his quest to look like an 18-year-old, Bryan swapped blood plasma with his 17-year-old son Talmage and 70-year-old father Richard at a health clinic in Dallas, Texas in early April.
Talmage’s blood is removed and converted into a batch of liquid plasma, the liquid element of blood, and another one of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets using a machine, according to a Bloomberg report. Bryan undergoes a similar procedure followed by another process where he receives his son’s plasma. And Bryan’s plasma is injected into his father Richard’s veins.
Bryan has been undergoing the plasma exchange procedure for a while. He has reportedly visited the clinic several times and received plasma from a young anonymous donor, who is not a member of his family. Before he went ahead with the procedure, the tech innovator checked if the person had an ideal body mass index, was healthy and free of diseases, the report says.
The aim is to rejuvenate and repair cellular damages, which are part of the ageing process, by replacing old blood in an old body with new blood from a young donor.
The procedure costs around $5500 and donors get about $100.
But does this really work?
It worked on mice
Experiments in mice showed that older rodents when given younger blood produced incredible results. A study conducted by the University of California in 2005 showed that creating conjoined twins of young and old mice (and therefore sharing blood and organs) can reverse the signs of ageing in the old mice. This was done by reviving a 1950s procedure called parabiosis – where the insides of the two mice were stitched together.
Younger mice briefly experienced signs of old age when scientists infused them with the blood of older animals, according to an experiment conducted last year. When older mice were given young blood, their fatigue declined and their endurance increased.
Since the 2005 study, there has been much speculation if young blood might have the power to fight the effects of ageing. However, there has been no great success.
Experiments to tackle ageing
Several start-ups are trying to dive deep and see if parabiosis has the answers to tackle age-related diseases.
In 2016, a US-based started Ambrosia started offering infusions of young plasma for $8000 for a litre. The plasma from donors aged 16 to 25 was given through IVs with the dream that it might rejuvenate the sluggish cells of old clients. The procedure came under fire from the US Food and Drug Administration for lack of proven clinical benefit and possible safety issues.
Alkahest, a company founded by Tony Wyss-Coray, a neurologist at Stanford University, reported the results from a six-month trial in August 2019 that saw 40 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease infused with a proprietary human plasma “fraction”. It appeared to arrest their expected mental decline, according to a report in The Guardian. The firm also has results that show that a drug that deactivates a protein in old blood could help with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
While research continues with plasma, some are cautious. “We have not learned enough to suggest this is a viable human treatment for anything,” Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles told Bloomberg. “To me, it’s gross, evidence-free and relatively dangerous.”
An elitist endeavour
However, Bryan’s team of doctors, have okayed the swapping plasma procedure. They are looking at it as a way to keep Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s at bay.
The entrepreneur is constantly under the scrutiny of his medical team and hopes he will be able to document any changes in his body as a result of transfusions. He looks at the experiment as a contribution to longevity technology.
Reversing or stopping ageing seems almost dystopian. Advances in science might get us a step closer. Yet, it is more of an elitist endeavour. Only a handful like Bryan can shell out thousands of dollars of a bottle.
With inputs from agencies
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