The ink had barely dried on the blog below when the following article came out by Dr Ron DePinho, a seminal researcher in the field of telomeres and telomerase. Dr DePinho helped put the nail in the coffin of the “Mitochondrial Theory of Aging” a year or so ago, when he showed that telomere length pretty much controlled mitochondria function and fate.
This most recent article shows how cancer outsmarts telomerase inhibitors. I have been writing this kind of thing for about a year now, based on what I know, but this study confirms it.
Cancer is a sneaky bastard and does a lot of things to outsmart regular cells. Its association with increased telomerase has posed endless questions for people like me, who take, sell and research telomerase activators. Simply put, I get asked over and over again, doesn’t turning on telomerase cause cancer. A thousand times NO and of course I have gone into the reasons (see the blog below!) ad nauseum so I won’t do it again here. But, I will tell you my prediction that turning off telomerase in cancer will do the same thing chemo and radiation often does- make the cancer stronger and more resistant, as shown by this article.
It is my hope that by proving this, we will once and for all understand that cancer hijacks telomerase and lots of other things for its own good. Turning on telomerase does not cause cancer; it is merely a byproduct of the process that has nothing to do with telomerase activators like TA-65! Here is another example. People out there are claiming oxygen kills cancer and alkalinity does as well. Sorry, this is also wrong. Cancer hijacks surrounding cells and makes new blood vessels, so it can support its preferred acidic environment and survive in a low oxygen tension, without having the associated toxicity and accumulation of waste products kill it. Dumping in oxygen, ozone and alkalinity will not penetrate this environmental wall that cancer creates. It will not touch the cancer. Changing the genetics of the cancer and restoring its sensitivity to low oxygen and the acidic toxins will, but the two are completely unrelated.
I hope we can once and for all understand that, just because something happens as one of the steps in cancer, does not mean it causes cancer. Cancer is a very tough and sneaky opponent and ultimately preventing it will be the best treatment. Last year JAMA published an article associating shorter telomeres with more and more virulent cancers, and longer telomeres with markedly less cancer risk. Last week, a Danish study showed short telomeres were associated with early death and longer telomeres with longer life. I can assure you having longer telomeres will be part of treating aging cancer and most, if not all, the disease we associate with old age. Until we institute that treatment, we will be fighting a losing battle!