(continued):
***********
 
Session #5
 
Abstract #20. ENHANCEMENT OF IMMUNE FUNCTION IN AGING ANIMALS USING A
COMPLEX PLANT CARBOHYDRATE WHICH STIMULATES MACROPHAGE SECRETION OF
IMMUNOINTERACTIVE CYTOKINES
 
D.L. Busbee, E.A. Merriam, B.D. Campbell and L.P. Flood., Department of
Anatomy and Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of
Physiology, College of Medicine, Texas A & M University, College Station,
Texas.
 
A long-chain, B (1,4)-linked, acetylated polymannose (ACM, Acemannan(tm))
was used to treat mice in a tumor recovery study, and in a study of immune
function across a 3 month to 17 month age-continuum. Animals transplanted
subcutaneously with 106 or 107 cells of a syngeneic sarcoma (Norman Murine
Sarcoma, NMS) were treated IP with ACM (1 mg/kg in sterile 0.9% NaCI).
Tumor growth was monitored, with 100% of non-ACM treated animals developing
large sarcomas and proceeding to a morbid state. About 40% of ACM-treated
animals exhibited tumor growth followed by immune system-associated tumor
regression and complete recovery. Animals which recovered from the NMS
transplant could not subsequently be successfully transplanted with sarcoma
cells.
 
Mice injected IP with ACM exhibited increased peritoneal macrophage
secretion of IL-1 and TNF-A. Mice, C57BL/6N, treated with ACM across an age
continuum were evaluated for IL-1 (units/ml sustaining lymphocyte
blastogenesis relative to units/ml of recombinant murine IL-1A) and IL-6
secretion, thymocyte blastogenesis and antibody-dependent cellular
cytotoxicity (ADCC). ACM treatment increased IL-1 and IL-6 secretion in
young and old animals, and initiated increased concanavalin-stimulated
blastogenesis in young animals. ACM-stimulation of increased lymphocyte
blastogenesis was not clearly demonstrated in cells from all age groups.
Cells from 17 month old mice ACM-treated animals showed almost a 2-fold
increase in concanavalin-stimulated blastogenesis over cells from
non-CM-treated animals.
 
ACM treatment was associated with increased capacity of animals to mount an
effective immune system surveillance against implanted sarcoma cells. Since
the mice, CFW, used in NMS tumor-implantation experiments are outbred,
variability in the response to NMS with or without ACM was expected.
ACM-treatment was associated with increases in peritoneal macrophage
secretion of IL-1 and IL-6, and in increased capacity to initiate
lymphocyte blastogenesis. The data indicate that ACM, an acetylated
polymannose with an unusual B (1,4) carbohydrate linkage, serves as an
effective immunostimulatory agent in mice, and suggest that it might have a
use in the long-term support of immune function in anti-aging medicine.
 
Session # 5.
 
Abstract # 21. MECHANISMS OF IMMUNE SENESCENCE IN THE ELDERLY: IMPLICATIONS
FOR THERAPY.
 
G.D. Marshall, M.D., Ph.D., E.M. Henninger B.S., M.T. (ASCP), S.K.
Agarwahl, B.A., and C.C. Cassidy, B.S., Division of Allergy & Clinical
Immunology, University of Texas Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas.
 
Increased incidence of and mortality from diseases associated with the
senescence of the immune response are expected consequences of aging in
humans. The exact mechanisms associated with these observations are not
fully understood but include a decrease in immunocompetent cell numbers as
well as function. Review of the literature suggests that the aging process
is associated with decreased numbers and/or function of immunocompetent T
cells. Residual T cells, both CD4+ and CD8+, tend to be of the memory (TH2)
rather than naive (TH1) type. Clinical studies suggest that immune
responses may be variable depending upon the underlying health of the
individual as well as age. We have observed differences in mitogen- and
antigen-induced blastogenesis and cytokine production from old vs young
humans.
 
This is correlated in vivo with DTH skin tests and in vitro cytokine
profiles except for elevated lL-10 in elderly patients. These data suggest
that healthy elderly humans produce adequate in vivo immune responses due
to the expanded presence of multiple memory T cells. However, new antigen
exposure (i.e. infectious, malignant, etc.) is met with an inadequate
immune response (perhaps due to excess lL-10 levels) resulting in impaired
immune responses and increased morbidity/mortality. Confirming this
hypothesis will aid design of studies with immunomodulators that may
normalize the immune responses of elderly individuals with immune
dysfunctions.
 
Session #5
 
Abstract # 22. CO-ENZYME Q10 AND LIFESPAN EXTENSION
 
L. STEPHEN COLES, M.D., Ph.D., Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA and Steven B. Harris, M.D.,
Department of Pathology, UCLA School of Medicine, Center for the Life
Sciences, Los Angeles, CA
 
CoEnzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a vitamin-like, naturally occurring compound found
in most cells of the body as well as in many foods. CoQ10 plays a key
enzymatic role in energy production within mitochondria. Mitochondria are
specialized organelles which function as energetic power plants to produce
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energetic coin of the realm within both
plant and animal cells. CoQ10 has been on the market in Japan since the
early 1970s, where it is used as a tonic by approximately ten percent of
the adult population in that country. For the last decade or so American
cardiologists have been using CoQ10 as a prescription drug (under the trade
name Ubiquinone) for patients suffering from heart disease.
 
However, since the mid-1980s, CoQ10 has been marketed as a nutrient in U.S.
health food stores in capsules that range from 10 to 30 milligrams.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that CoQ10 is highly effective in
preventing and treating atherosclerosis, angina (heart pain), myocardial
infarction (heart attack), and other cardiovascular diseases. Although its
mechanism of action is currently unknown, it is speculated that it may
function as certain other vitamins do as an antioxidant. Experiments with
rodents have shown that CoQ10 confers significant advantage in increasing
average life expectancy. However, we are disappointed to report that it
does not appear to increase maximum life span.
 
Session # 5
 
Abstract # 23. EARLY DETECTION OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE USING ULTRAFAST
CT
 
Stuart Rich, M.D., F.A.C.C., Professor of Medicine and Chief, Section of
Cardiology, The University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Medicine,
Chicago, IL.
 
The high prevalence of coronary artery disease in the American population
makes aggressive programs of early detection and prevention mandatory.
However, the traditional methods of screening for coronary artery disease
with risk factor profiling, or using exercise testing, is both too
insensitive and nonspecific to accurately identify people at risk for
coronary events. Furthermore, although studies on the value of lipid
lowering agents as secondary prevention are convincing, the use for these
same drugs as primary prevention remains controversial.
 
A new technology, ultrafast CT, which allows the noninvasive, safe and
rapid detection of coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals
holds great promise as a screening tool to identify patients at risk for
coronary events in the general population. By applying proven methods for
prevention of coronary atherosclerosis, it may be possible to have a major
impact in reducing the clinical expression of coronary disease. Ultrafast
CT holds great promise as a screening tool for the detection of coronary
artery disease in the general population.
 
Session #5
 
Abstract # 24. BIOMARKERS: ROLE IN DETERMINING BIOLOGICAL AGE.
 
Frances A. Kovarik, Ph.D., Executive Director, American Academy of
Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago, IL and Vincent C. Giampapa, M.D., F.A.C.S.,
Director of Surgery, Plastic Surgery Center of Montclair, NJ and Assistant
Clinical Professor, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Medical Center, Newark, NJ
 
This presentation is an overview of evaluating biomarker parameters on four
levels starting with the functional parameters of the body and
progressively examining biomarkers on the cellular, molecular, and
chromosomal levels. The data collected by using this biomarker matrix is
fed into a computer program that helps cross-correlate and analyze the data
to help determine the state of aging within the tested individual.
 
This biomarker study is a new concept presented in evaluating the aging
parameters of the individual on multiple levels. The biomarker parameters
are examined on four planes.
 
Session #5
 
Abstract # 25 . DHEA AS A MARKER OF AGING AND A THERAPEUTIC PRINCIPAL
 
Julian M. Whitaker, M.D., Medical Director, Whitaker Wellness Institute,
Newport Beach, CA.
 
Dehydrepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal
gland. Synthesized from cholesterol, it is produced in larger amounts than
any other adrenal steroid hormone. DHEA is both a precursor to the sex
hormones and functions as a "buffer" hormone. It also has recently
discovered independent functions of its own.
 
DHEA has therapeutic potential for many medical conditions including:
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolema, obesity, cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, memory deficits, autoimmune diseases, immune disorders
including AIDS, chronic fatigue, and osteoporosis. In addition, DHEA has a
decided effect on mortality, with studies showing that an increase in blood
levels of DHEA sulfate is associated with a 36% reduction in mortality from
any cause.
 
An individual's innate blood levels of DHEA reach a peak in his or her
mid-twenties and progressively decline from that point. Blood levels of
DHEA sulfate are a marker for many degenerative diseases, including the
above-mentioned conditions.
 
Supplemental DHEA is being used clinically for these conditions, as well as
for physical and psychological well-being and life extension. Doses vary
but as much as 1,600 mg/day have been given for a month without side
effects. A recommended initial therapeutic dose is 25 mg/day for women and
50 mg/day for men, with monitoring of blood levels every three months and
adjusting the dose accordingly. The intent is to maintain levels in the
average range for a young adult, regardless of the individual's age.
 
Session # 5.
 
Abstract # 26. LASER LIGHT FACIAL REJUVENATION.
 
Gregory S. Keller, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.B.O., Keller Facial Plastic Surgery
Center, Santa Barbara and Director, Laser Surgical Unit, Goleta Valley
Community Hospital, Santa Barbara, CA.
 
The full potential for laser use in facial rejuvenation has not been
realized. This paper attempts to summarize the new advances in this rapidly
moving field and to outline areas of laser technology that may find
applications in the near future.
 
The "hottest" area of physician and patient interest in lasers in the field
of facial plastic surgery currently is "laser resurfacing" of the skin.
Though iridium yag laser removal of layers of skin has been used of skin
research for years, it is the new pulsed carbon dioxide lasers and new
scanning systems that have made laser resurfacing of the skin practical.
Because of the lasers ability to abrade at different depths that change
millimeter by millimeter over the skin's surface, unwanted wrinkles can be
diminished with these laser systems without the depigmentation that was
associated with deeper chemical peels and dermabrasion.
 
Aesthetic surgery with the laser has also reduced the healing time and
degree of morbidity that has been associated with facelifting,
blepharoplasty, and extended or composite facelifting. The preponderance of
medical evidence demonstrates that the laser reduces the morbidity and
recuperation time of these procedures, but physicians have been slow to
adopt these techniques due to the cost of the systems and the training time
required to use them.
 
Laser hair transplantation will probably be the field of most intense
interest in the next year. The field of hair transplantation is evolving
toward the implantation of thousands of grafts of single, two to three, and
three to five hairs. This is a tedious process and bleeding of the scalp,
as well as surgeon and technician fatigue, can cause a failure of the
procedure. Lasers and scanners have been developed that speed and automate
the process. Troublesome bleeding that can extrude the grafts from the
recipient bed is avoided. Futuristic laser uses for rejuvenation may rely
on more esoteric usages. Photodynamic therapy is one such treatment
modality that has been used to treat skin and other cancers.
 
A drug is used which is selectively retained in cancerous or other tissues.
A laser light that is non-thermal (of the intensity of a light bulb) is
then used to catalyze a destructive process. We noticed that skin next to a
tumor that was treated with PDT experienced a rejuvenation process
equivalent to a chemical peel without the skin being broken. Psoriasis and
vascular lesions may also be treated with photodynamic therapy.
 
Low energy lasers for enhancing healing and lasers that specifically alter
components of the cell have been used for research purposes. They may find
more applications in the future. Lasers that treat varicose and
telangectatic leg veins also are under development.
 
Banquet Speaker
 
Abstract # 27. LIFE EXTENSION NOW AND IN THE 21ST CENTURY
 
Roy Walford, M.D., Department of Pathology, University of California at Los
Angeles School of Medicine, Center for the Life Sciences, Los Angeles, CA
 
Studies of the eight humans sealed inside the closed ecological space known
as Biosphere 2, near Tucson, Arizona, provided evidence that humans on a
calorie-restricted nutrient-dense diet show the same physiological changes
(in cholesterol levels, fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, white blood
cell counts, glycated hemoglobin, insulin and cortisol levels) as rodents
on such a diet, strengthening the inference that retardation of aging and
enhanced resistance to disease might also obtain in humans on such a
regime. Whereas calorie-restriction may be the first method (the only one
at present) used to enhance human life span, and is probably not applicable
to a general population,te rpdadvances being made in gerontology suggest
that other simpler methods may be forthcoming, and that the 21st century
will be the cenury of "the long-living society."
 
Session #6
 
Abstract # 28. NEW CONCEPTS IN DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS.
 
Vincent C. Giampapa, M.D., F.A.C.S., Director of Surgery, Plastic Surgery
Center of Montclair, NJ and Assistant Clinical Professor, University of
Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Medical Center, Newark, NJ
 
Aside from the generally known routes of administration, new delivery
systems have been developed that include the use of bio-absorbable
substrates which house the desired medications within them. These tubules
are implanted subcutaneously. Through the use of growth factors, the blood
supply is developed around the drug laden tubules. Thus the medications can
be distributed to the body over long periods of time. Other systems are
discussed including subcutaneous implantable pod systems. The implantable
pod systems allow multiple drug deliveries at desired time sequence
intervals; other drug delivery systems presented include the capsulating
cell technologies.
 
Over the last few years, new drug delivery systems have been conceptualized
and developed using bio-absorbable, bio-degradable substances. Utilizing
polylactic and polyglycolic acid in the tubules, drugs can be administered
from these bio-absorbable tubules to the surrounding subcutaneous tissues.
With the advent of these types of tubules, growth factors are applied to
the surface of this system. These growth factors induce DNA
neurovascularization around the tubules and enhance drug delivery. This
same concept is used in the pod delivery systems that may house both
encapsulated genetically altered cells or genetically produced cells in the
form of a highbred organ; these cells will then deliver their normal
hormonal components and permit auto-self regulation.
 
Other uses of the pod delivery system are in the form of a percutaneous
refillable reservoir. The reservoir is controlled by a microchip and an
internal power source. This system allows for multiple drug deliveries of
key anti-aging hormones or enzyme systems. The release of these compounds
can be strategically timed making the release with biologically determined
rhythms within the body to mimic the body's normal release schedules.
 
The state of development of these tubules and their future use with
anti-aging and longevity medicine, as well as degenerative diseases is
discussed.
 
Session #6
 
Abstract #29. ORGAN CRYOPRESERVATION
 
Gregory M. Fahy, Ph.D., Transfusion Medicine Research Program, Naval
Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD.
 
A common cause of death among older individuals is organ failure. The
treatment of choice for organ failure is organ replacement, but organ
replacement eventually leads either to organ rejection or to death from the
secondary effects of immunosuppression used to prevent rejection. These
problems could be overcome by better matching, by the induction of
immunological "tolerance" to the transplanted organ, or both, but these
solutions can best be accomplished using longer organ storage times than
can be achieved using conventional organ storage methods. By cooling organs
to cryogenic temperatures, all meaningful time limits on organ storage can
in principle be abolished.
 
The problem has been to carry out this cooling in such a way that the
preservation procedure itself does not kill the organ in the process. After
approximately 40 years of effort in pursuit of this goal, a workable
approach appears to be near at hand. The technique is called
"vitrification", or preservation at very low temperatures in the absence of
ice. This may be accomplished using high concentrations of chemical
additives that replace water and prevent the remaining water from freezing.
 
To date, rabbit kidneys have been able to tolerate all phases of the
procedure except warming from cryogenic temperatures, but suitable warming
techniques now appear to be available for testing. The successful banking
of kidneys may well lead to successful banking of virtually all other
organs, including non-vital organs such as hands that will be feasible to
transplant given the advantages of immunological tolerance.
 
Session #6
 
Abstract #30. NOVEL FIBRIN SEALANT APPLICATIONS
 
Barry Datlof, American Red Cross, Rockville, MD
 
Fibrin sealant, produced by mixing solutions of thrombin and fibrinogen
complex to form a clot at the site of application, can be supplemented with
therapeutically valuable substances such as growth factors to stimulate
tissue regeneration, various hormones or drugs with diverse effects,
antibiotics to inhibit bacterial growth, or growth inhibitors to slow tumor
growth. The ability of fibrin sealants to adhere to moist tissue also
allows localization of drug delivery; therefore, higher localized levels
and lower systemic levels can be maintained.
 
The duration of delivery may be customized to suit the application. Since
fibrin sealant ultimately is degraded through normal fibrinolytic
mechanisms, it can be used as a short or long-term drug delivery system for
a variety of substances. The Plasma Derivatives and Molecular Biology Labs
at Red Cross' Holland Laboratory are developing a number of commercial
applications for supplemented fibrin sealants. Particularly promising is
its use in periodontal disease treatment, vascular grafts, bone repair,
ulcer and burn healing, and the delivery of cancer therapeutics. The Red
Cross currently seeks licensees and joint development partners to
commercialize supplemented fibrin sealants. In addition to companies with
valuable supplements, the Red Cross seeks companies with expertise in
formulation and testing, manufacture, and medical devices.
*********
I'll send the rest tomorrow, this is quite long and is just the first half!
I've also got some other info I've found recently on pesticides, drugs and
pharmacology, vitamins, herbs, etc., and I'll slowly pass it all on.
Wendy