Aging, a theory.

What is it about?

It is noted that the greatest risk factor for nearly every major cause of mortality in developing nations is aging. Notable ways of improving our health and combating disease are by reversing genome damage caused by aging, diet, and environmental factors; research new tissues and blood; restrict caloric intake; and reprogram senescent cells that accumulate abnormal or degraded proteins that impair cellular functions Therapeutic approaches as developed by pharma but another is by therapeutic apheresis to remove “toxic compounds”. Studies by parabiosis have been difficult to interpret and the whole blood exchanges involves other processes as oxygenation and filtration. With age, protein accumulation results from impaired protein degradation and misfolding. In Alzeheimer’s studies where plasma from young donors is given or patient plasma is replaced with albumin, the results have not been very impressive. One particular group of proteins that aggregate and present in various diseases are cryoglobulins, cold precipitable proteins and frequently found in older non-healthy persons and shown to have prognostic significance. We have identified various diseases containing cryoprecipitable proteins and treated them with success including rheumatoid arthritis, cryoglobulinemia, etc. We have shown that cryoprecipitable proteins are suppressive to the immunological system as by inhibiting the blastogenesis of normal mononuclear cells and inhibit neutrophil phagocytosis in a concentration dependent manner and suppression of normal lymphocyte function. In patients treated by cryofiltration cellular functions improved. Plasma treatment to remove plasma macromolecules can activate the biological system to return to normalcy and allow pharma agents to work more effectively. Normal detoxification processes are lacking in disease processes and normal removal processes become deficient and eventually overwhelmed. Therapeutic apheresis approaches can restore the norm.

Featured Image

Photo by C. Z. Shi on Unsplash

Photo by C. Z. Shi on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Notes the presence of macromolecules in diseases and aging suggesting their removal can improve health.