>>13771447This guy is mostly correct.
>>13771516The key mechanism of ageing is transposon activity (this is ofcourse a gross oversimplification). There are 4-5 ways to influence transposon activity.
1) Targeted methylation of DNA to induice heterochromatinisation, 2) upregulation of transposon silencing proteins, 3) activation of the PIWI piRNA pathway, 4) deletions at specific parts of line-1 elements, and 5) RNAi.
The first will require some targeted methyl transfearse, which would be a larger protein. This technology doesn't really exist yet.
However, if this is the one that turns out to work, it will be on the cheaper side. Probably an injection.
The second and third would be achieved via gene therapy. Though this tech exists, it is not yet anywhere near as effective as would be necesseary for it to work as a cure for ageing.
This too would be relatively cheap, though not as much as the protein version. Also an injection.
The fourth could be achieved via injected siRNA, but you could never get it to sufficient concentrations. You could also insert one or several miRNA sequences, and the gene therapy for that could be much easyer than with 2. and 3. methods.
This would be a bit more expensive though, as it would require more specialised reagents. But we are still not talking about billionaire only prices. More like buying a car.
The scary thing about this is how achieveable and how cheap it may be. We don't really talk about the consequences of achieveing our goal at the lab.
