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Non-Aging Human Cells Created in Lab Bay firm's stock soars on hopes of medical advances The San Francisco Chronicle -- Wed, Jan 14 1998 Scientists have managed for the first time to turn off the natural aging process in human cells, raising hopes for a new generation of treatments for genetic and age-related disorders. The discovery, announced yesterday by Geron Corp. in Menlo Park, demonstrates how to make normal human cells that seem to never wear out -- capping a 35-year hunt for the keys to molecular longevity. Geron's stock rose $4.38, or nearly 44 percent, to $14.38 per share yesterday on the news. "I didn't think I'd live long enough to see this," said Leonard Hayflick, 69, an anatomy professor at the University of California at San Francisco. As a young researcher in Pennsylvania in 1962, Hayflick published a classic research paper that began the quest for an immortal cell. Although some are hailing the discovery as a "fountain of youth," it does not pave the way for unending life. Just because some cells can be made to live seemingly forever does not mean doctors can do the same for a whole person. Scientists with Geron and the University of Texas said they took a so-called immortality gene discovered and cloned last fall and proved that it works when inserted into healthy human cells. The research, which will be published Friday in the journal Science, carries profound implications for medicine in the 21st century: -- Long-lived human cells could be used to produce huge quantities of rare proteins, including disease-fighting antibodies. These proteins can fight diseases such as lymphoma and nervous-system disorders such as PARKINSON'S disease. But now they can only be grown in mice, if at all. New treatments could be found for genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. The immortal cell could be used to overcome a major problem facing scientists working on gene therapy. Scientists often have trouble keeping cells alive in the laboratory long enough to fix their genetic defects. In key work last year, also co-sponsored by Geron, scientists identified and cloned the gene for a natural protein, called telomerase, that gives cells the ability to divide without limit. The new research looks at this "immortalizing gene" in action. Technically, the active telomerase gene was inserted into two different types of normal cells that otherwise were self-programmed for destruction. "We couldn't be more excited about the results," said Dr. Woodring Wright at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "I thinkthis finally nails down the fundamental cause of cell aging and provides a direct means of altering the clock of cell aging for therapeutic effect." Telomerase is an unusual chemical that gives cells the ability to turn back their biological clocks. It works this way: Each time a cell divides, a special strand of DNA in the nucleus, called a "telomere," gets one notch shorter. Eventually, the DNA strands wear down to useless nubs. That means certain death for the cell. But the enzyme telomerase bestows on the cell the ability to make fresh new DNA strands. <snip> Judith Richards [log in to unmask]