Have you heard of the chemical called "CGK733"?

Question

According to Korean scientists, the chemical CGK733 has been used to successfully reverse a portion of the aging process by re-attaching telomeres to the ends of chromosomes. As (if this is true) is the first time the aging process has ever been reversed, why isn't this making front page news?

Answer 1

Biologists often call cell aging "senescence," a term that describes the physical and biochemical signs of a cell's deterioration toward death. These signals include a cessation of cell division, release of chemicals from the cell informing others of its impending demise, and an increase in the girth of the cell.

CGK733 is the first small molecule that can reverse aspects of cell senescence. Genetic techniques have been used to do so in the past. But what makes CGK733 unique is that its antiaging properties are reversible: When CGK733 is removed, cells return to normal aging and death.

This feature makes CGK733 more of a dimmer switch than an on/off switch and gives the molecule potential as a drug lead, Kim says. "Knocking out a protein's function entirely can lead to terrible side effects. The dimmer switch characteristic provides a window for dosage."

Kim hopes CGK733's antiaging properties will be useful in wound healing, antiaging cosmetics, and tissue engineering, a focus of current experimentation in his laboratory. His research team is now working on in vivo studies of the compound in animal models.

"There aren't any drugs out there that can reverse cellular senescence," says Steve Jackson, head of Cancer Research UK at the University of Cambridge. "This could be the tip of the iceberg for a whole range of studies over the next decade which might start delivering compounds that might delay, or one day reverse, some aspects of aging."

Jackson cautions that long-term health impacts of CGK733 need to be evaluated, as well as the compound's impact on other cell types and in animal models. CGK733 works by blocking a protein checkpoint involved in sensing and slowing down cells in response to DNA damage. Although Kim showed that cells whose aging was reversed by CGK733 didn't develop chromosomal abnormalities, the long-term effect of blocking DNA repair mechanisms could lead to cancer.

Cellular senescence researcher Judith Campisi of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says CGK733 will be a good lab tool for biologists. "CGK733 is an example of what many scientists hope will be a trend: the identification of small molecules to mimic more cumbersome genetic interventions to regulate cellular behavior."

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Recently, it appears that a research team from Korea's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has discovered a molecule which is said to have "anti-aging" effects on cells in mammals. This synthetic molecule, called CGK733 is often used in developing photographic film, the team discovered the effects of CGK733 when it was methodically testing over 20,000 molecules and how they affected cellular aging.

When a cell is aging and reaching its end it begins to go through different processes; the cell stops dividing, sends out proteins that tell the body it's dying and increases in size. When a cell ages it ultimately suffers from DNA damage, which triggers the cell to send protein markers to the body, notifying it to be shut down. CGK733 blocks the reception of those protein markers, allowing the cell to continue its life, surprisingly no longer believing it is too old to go on. This molecules not only appears to slow the aging process, but actually reverse it as well. The cell appears rejuvenated and activities within the cell return to normal. With the addition of CGK733 a normal mammal cell may experience as many as 20 times the normal division rate. This adds up to a 25 percent increase in longevity for a cell.

So could this new discovery be a real elixir? Pharmaceutical companies claim that the molecule will be applicable as a treatment in as little as 10 years from now. The uses for this molecule will range from healing of wounds, generation of tissues and cosmetics. Scientists still have alot of testing to do to assure that no harmful side-effects come of the use of CGK733, but one likely side-effect of protein disruption on a cellular level is cancer. Sounds to me like a very risky and possibly harmful treatment, but the idea of staying younger for longer is very appealing to almost everyone.

Answer 4

I did see it on the TV news once, but people quickly forget these stories. There are loads of articles on the net if you google for CGK733.

The wikipedia article for CGK733 is just a couple of sentences long, but it says it was developed by Tae Kook Kim in Korea and gives a link to a website.

"Synthetic complex thiourea derivavitive, a senescence synthetic molecule; that can extend the lifetime of cultured cells by approximately 20 divisions, or roughly 25%.

Specifically in mammalian cells.

Tae Kook Kim and several associates at the Korea Advanced institute of Science & Technology made the discovery.

Tae Kook Kim's Bio"

Answer 5

for crying out loud!
why?? tell me?...is a great deal of world news
NOT making front page news....!!
forget this stuff, and ask your self...what is it! we
are allowed to know...and what is it we are
NOT
This go's way past CGK733...Really.!