“Aging Is a Treatable Disease — Even People in Their 80s Could Regain the Vitality of Their 40s”

The Era of 120-Year Lifespans Is Coming

Interview with Prof. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School

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“Aging is not inevitable.”

Prof. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, author of the global bestseller Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To, made this point emphatically in a recent video interview with The Korea Economic Daily. His statement challenges the long-held belief that aging is simply a natural and unavoidable consequence of growing older.

A world-renowned geneticist who has spent three decades studying aging, Sinclair is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern anti-aging research. He was also among the first scientists to argue that aging itself should be viewed as a disease—and if it is a disease, then it may ultimately be treatable.

Sinclair believes the era of “reverse aging,” in which the body’s biological clock can effectively be turned backward, is not far away. In Lifespan, he also presented scientific arguments suggesting that the average human lifespan, currently around 80 years, could eventually be extended to 120 years.

“Within the next decade, we could enter a world where people in their 80s are able to live with the vitality of those in their 40s or 50s,” Sinclair said. “We will be able to stay younger and live longer.”

Q. In your book Lifespan, you described anti-aging research as a historic turning point comparable to humanity’s achievement of flight.

David Sinclair, author of Lifespan, said, “There are clearly drugs that, when given to old mice, make them behave more energetically and increase their muscle strength. Reverse aging is real. It is coming.”
Image symbolizes youth and aging. Getty Images Bank

“Throughout human history, there have been certain events after which the world could never return to what it was before. Flight is a good example. We cannot go back to the world before the Wright brothers. Until then, only birds could fly, and it was impossible for humans to ‘fly’ to another city. But once the Wright brothers arrived, everything changed. Today, hundreds of thousands of people travel by airplane every day. Aging research is similar. People believe anti-aging—and ultimately reverse aging—is impossible simply because we have never seen it before.”

Q. When do you expect the ‘Wright brothers’ moment of anti-aging to arrive?

“Within 10 years, or perhaps even sooner, humanity will enter an era in which we can control our own biological age. When that time comes, we will look back and think, ‘There was once a time when people could not even control their own aging.’ It will be similar to thinking, ‘There was once a time when traveling to a neighboring country took months because airplanes did not exist.’”

Q. Does that mean people could live to 120 within the next 10 years?

“Not everyone will suddenly be able to live to 120, but living to 120 will gradually become more commonplace.”

Q. Some predict that we may eventually enter an era of 150-year lifespans.

“Average life expectancy in developed countries today is around 80 years. Jeanne Calment, the world’s longest-lived verified person, lived to 122. There is a gap of roughly 40 years between those two figures, and I believe advances in anti-aging research can gradually close that gap. Human lifespans could extend beyond 120 years.

“Of course, this will not happen overnight. Humanity did not begin flying across continents immediately after the Wright brothers’ first flight. But anti-aging—and ultimately reverse aging—has moved beyond the question of ‘if’ it will happen. It is now a question of ‘when.’”

Q. Major areas of aging research include cellular reprogramming, the removal of senescent or ‘zombie’ cells, and longevity genes. Which approach do you think is the most promising?

“Research into eliminating senescent cells and longevity genes is progressing somewhat faster. For example, studies have shown improvements in symptoms of macular degeneration by removing senescent cells. Researchers are also developing treatments for aging based on compounds that activate sirtuins, a family of longevity-associated proteins.

“Cellular reprogramming has not yet reached human clinical trials. However, a company I co-founded, Life Biosciences, has conducted experiments in monkeys, making it one of the approaches closest to human testing. We plan to begin a human clinical trial for glaucoma next year.”

Q. What is the significance of your study on “old, blind mice,” recently published in the scientific journal Cell?

“What makes this study important is that it demonstrated not only that vision could be restored, but that reverse aging could be achieved safely. Previous approaches raised concerns about side effects such as tumor formation, but we found a way to address that problem. No one had done this before.”

In general, optic nerves regenerate more readily in young mice than in old mice. Sinclair’s team deliberately damaged the optic nerves of young mice. The injury induced genetic changes resembling those seen in aged mice whose optic nerves had lost their function.

The researchers then used cellular reprogramming technology to develop a treatment targeting these age-related changes. When the therapy was administered to aged mice with damaged optic nerves, their vision recovered. The researchers also observed improvements in the health of muscle and brain tissue.

Q. Can the same approach be applied to organs other than the eye?

“Yes. We are currently conducting reverse-aging experiments not only in the eye but also in other tissues, including the brain. The eye is one of the most difficult organs in the body to restore once its function has been lost, which is why we chose it as our first target.

“The eye itself is not the point. It is simply the first case.”

Q. Could you tell us about some of your other ongoing research?

“We recently created a virus designed to target the brains of mice. After administering it, we found that aged mice showed improvements in both memory and learning ability.

“We are now studying what happens when this virus is delivered to different parts of the body. One study using this technology found that the remaining lifespan of 25-month-old mice—roughly equivalent to an 80-year-old human—increased by 109%. Their remaining lifespan increased from about two months to four months.

“That is extremely encouraging news, because there is no reason to assume that such an approach could never work in people in their 80s or 90s.”

Q. Anti-aging research is still at an early stage. Isn’t reverse aging an even more distant possibility?

“Ten years ago, when I first talked about reverse aging, people called it a ‘crazy’ idea. Some even argued that we should not use the term ‘reverse aging’ at all.

“Today, research into ways of turning back the biological clock has become increasingly mainstream. There are clearly treatments that, when given to old mice, make them more active and increase their muscle strength.

“Reverse aging is real. It is coming.”

Q. You were one of the first scientists to argue that aging should be considered a disease.

“When I said 10 years ago that aging was a disease, people ridiculed the idea as crazy. Today, many more people agree with me.

“A disease is something that makes people sick and eventually causes death. The same mechanisms apply to aging. I believe we will soon enter an era in which aging itself can be treated.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is receptive to the idea that aging may be a treatable condition. What it wants is evidence that such treatment is actually possible. Clinical trials designed to provide that evidence are now being prepared around the world.

“I would not be surprised if, within five years, the FDA also comes to recognize aging as a disease.”

Q. What final message would you like to emphasize?

“My mother never paid much attention to her health. She smoked, and her diet was not particularly healthy. She suffered from poor health for about 20 years before passing away at the age of 70.

“My father, on the other hand, has always been very interested in science. He reads my research papers and practices intermittent fasting. He is now 84, but says he feels the way he did when he was 40.

“He does not even wear glasses when driving at night, and he has no difficulty flying to Europe. That is quite different from what we typically imagine an 84-year-old to be like.

“I want readers to be able to live the way my father does. I hope more people come to understand how profoundly our quality of life could change if we were able to slow—or even reverse—the aging process.”

Reporter Nam Jeong-min
Email: peux@hankyung.com