I'd like to talk about premature ageing and longevity genes. The telomere is a type of gene associated with longevity. To understand what a telomere is, you first need to know how the human body is maintained. The human body is made up of an average of around 37 trillion cells over the course of a lifetime. Of these, around 1%, or some 200 billion cells, die and are replaced by new cells every day. The bodies of many living things, including human beings, are maintained by this process. Chromosomes play a key role in the creation of cells. They exist in the nucleus of cells and store genetic information that is essential for cell proliferation. They are like a blueprint, since cells are created from this information. However, cell proliferation stops at a certain point in life, and the time at which this happens can differ from cell to cell. Telomeres are deeply involved in the number of cell divisions.
Telomeres have been found to stick to the two ends of chromosomes, which are like plastic covers that bundle together shoelaces. Telomere DNA gradually shortens with each cell division. Eventually, the cells can no longer divide and eventually die. This phenomenon is known as "cell ageing". Telomeres, also known as "lifelong coupon tickets", are deeply associated with the development of serious diseases such as cancer, arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Let me give you an example: when cells are damaged by ultraviolet rays, which sometimes trigger skin cancer, or by smoking, which can cause cancer, cell divisions are activated in order to replace the damaged cells with new ones. As a result, the telomeres of these cells shorten in less time. Cells become unstable when they lose their telomeres, and can be linked to other chromosomes. During this process, alcoholic hepatitis progresses to cirrhosis of the liver, and eventually to liver cancer. The telomeres of patients with cancer or other diseases tend to be shorter. However, people with shorter telomeres do not necessarily suffer from cancer. It has also been pointed out that our bodies also possess an enzyme called telomerase, but unfortunately no reliable way of activating telomeres to lengthen them has been found. Although telomeres are attracting a great deal of attention as an indicator of the state of ageing in anti-ageing medicine societies, further studies and research are needed to apply this mechanism in clinical practice.
We are conducting research into age-related genes in our hospital laboratory. We would like to develop technology to assess the biological age of patients and objectively measure the effects of anti-ageing supplements, including ImunoBran.
Midori Meshitsuka M.D., M Director of the regenerative clinic
2008 Graduate of the Centre for Health Sciences at Peking University (China)
2009 Chinese medical degree
2014 Japanese medical degree2019 M Director of the Regenerative ClinicDr Midori completed her internship at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Peking University Third Hospital. She then worked at Tokyo University Hospital and Tokyo Women's Medical University.
In 2019, she joined her family practice and set up the M Regenerative Clinic as its director.