cells, cell life and extending cell life.

Question

hello,

I have always been curious about different ways in which we can extend the life of a cell. 

let's say we found a way to make the telomere of a cell longer. that means we can extend the life of each individual cell in the body meaning we will live longer right?

 take into consideration that all the cells I'm talking about below have been modified with a longer telomere . that leads us to our first three scenarios. 

1) the cells in our body live much longer and don't die meaning the body will stop making new cells since there is no need for replacing the old but still healthy cells causing us to live a lot longer.

2) the body makes new cells while the older cells are still alive which will cause cancer since many cells will accumulate in the same place? 

3) the body kill the Old healthy cells and replace them with new ones. But then thinking about it killing cells that are still healthy doesn't really make sense and aging will continue as normal.

which scenario do you think will happen?

Answer 1

There is a great deal of active research in telomeres at present. Understand that some cells divide infrequently, if at all in life (neurons) while others, (mucusa of the GI tract, skin) are dividing continually to replace dead and worn out cells.

Cell lines (tissues) throughout the body have different lengths of telomeres, which is not fully understood.

There are differences even between the sexes. For instance, spermatozoa are produced on a continuous basis from puberty until death in men, while in women, all of the ova she will ever produce are already present at birth. Females do not produce eggs on a monthly basis, they are all already present and are allowed to mature one or two at a time on a monthly basis, and even this ends at menopause.

Stem cells and fertilized eggs are able to differentiate into each and every one of the cells and tissues required to produce a healthy individual, yet some of them cease to reproduce prior to birth, and some reproduce continually.

The answers are not that simple, yet the secret to immortality has been pursued by humans for thousands of years.

Answer 2

This is a good thought experiment. There is no scientific evidence that I know of that predicts what will happen if telomeres are made longer. If I have to guess I would say scenario would happen because we would be interfering with the biological equilibrium.