Is it possible to turn off the "death" gene in the cell and make humans live forever?

Question

Oh, the "death" gene is the gene that tells the cell when not to make the new cell itself.

Answer 1

We die because the DNA matterials are damaged over time by factors like radicals; also accumulated mutation could lead to malfunction of our genome. Basically, every time when you are breathing, you are causing damage to your own body. Mitochondria in human cells use oxygen to release energy. However, oxygen is the main source of oxidising agent and cause ageing. This is a paradox of life.

One possible way to lengthen life span would be having a better diet, which involves less free radicals, and eat more fruit and veg. They have vitamins that can act as soakers of radicals.

Also the key thing involved in finding the elixir of youth is to reduce the oxidisng effect of oxygen to our cells. Cells of a kind of bird (I think it's parrot..couldn't really remember) is brilliant in anti-oxidising.

Answer 2

maybe but you will forever in a very sick state.

the problem is not only with the preprogrammed cell death. its also with the renewability of tissue cells.if man was only made of the cells of the blood and the guts (gastro intestinal) then it would be possible to imagine human living for a very long time because cells of these tissues are renewed almost every week.
but other tissues equally if not more important are rarely or never renewed or regenerated like nerve tissue and heart muscle , kidney tissue etc.

the next question to address would be why do the cells wear and tear so that they must be replaced? thats a whole different issue.

in short the biggest obstacle to immortality of the body is controlling the regeneration characteristics of various tissue cells.
preprogrammed cell death might be a healthy part of cell cycle when the cell is no longer performing or is too much damaged it didies preparing the way for new cells taking over.

Answer 3

I don't believe this is possible at all. Scientists have been able to use the manipulation of this "death" gene in mammals to help people suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. By inhibiting this gene's activity, they were able to slow the degeneration of tissues in the patients. However, it is believed that by eliminating this gene causes cells to go on and continue dividing and growing beyond their normal abilities, which results in cancer. The theory is that there should be a balance of cells in the body, so that the amount of cells dying off should be close to the amount of new cells growing.

Answer 4

I am sure that there are people who are studying that very question. I know that we find things every day that make humans live longer. I don't know about forever, but I think that we are going to find ways to live for well over 100 years in the near future. Heck that means no retiring at 55, or 60. We will all be working until we are like 90 or so.

Answer 5

Actually, yes... it's called cancer. Cancer cells never grow old (or senesce in biology terms). Unfortunately this is not good so it does not make us live forever. Cancer also does some other pretty tricky stuff like cell-contact mediated division (a cell won't divide if it's too close to another cell unless its cancerous...then it just divides no matter if there's room or not!)

Answer 6

hey i totally agree with shoguly but i want to add this point if u succeded in turning off apoptosis gene in human cells actulaly what u r making is CANCER.in other words what cancer do is turning off the expression of these genes

Answer 7

One of the main causes of death is gravity. Unfortunately, we have found that living outside the atmosphere also causes death. Perhaps if we could find a way to prevent degeneration in outer space, we might achieve much longer lifespans.

Answer 8

If scientists figure out how to control telomeres when cells divide, then yes we MIGHT be able to live forever.
But the implications would be a population explosion on earth that would be uncontrollable.

Answer 9

There is no "death gene". All people must die. It is part of the cirlce of life.

Except Vampires, they're immortal.

Answer 10

there is no "death" gene in our cells. humans die because their cells lose the ability to produce the necessary materials, etc. at an adequate pace. and by materials, I'm referring to decrease in hormones, enzymes, polypeptides, decreasing metabolism, etc.