Question of the Month #11: Are Mitochondrial Mutations Really All That Important? Part of Michael Rae’s regular column from the Foundation’s newsletter.

α-synuclein (AS) neuropathology is one of the key forms of aging damage driving Parkinson’s disease (PD) and aspects of the “normal” loss of cognitive and autonomic nervous control with age. Immunotherapy targeting the clearance of AS aggregates from aging neurons is a key rejuvenation biotechnology for the prevention and reversal of brain aging and PD. The first human clinical trial of an AS-clearing active vaccine in early-stage PD patients was initiated in the summer of 2013. The highly promising results of this first trial have now been announced, and have led to a followup study and the launch of an EU consortium to test it for additional AS-related indications. Contemporaneously, two human trials have been initiated using a second AS-clearing rejuvenation immunotherapy, this one using infused monoclonal antibodies as a passive immunotherapic rather than an antigen-based vaccine. We review progress in this area and its links to the wider progress in PD-related rejuvenation biotechnology.

A recent interview with SENS Research Foundation Chief Science Officer Dr. Aubrey De Grey evoked an eruption of worldwide media coverage, because of a brief comment he made to the effect that rejuvenation biotechnology could eliminate menopause within twenty years. This post gives some examples of foreseeable biotechnologies carrying us toward that eventuality.