Scientists are on the cusp of solving the cause of aging and believe there could be treatments to slow the effect in the next decade.
The announcement comes from researchers at the University of Cambridge who suspect the answer lies in elephants, whales and 'immortal jellyfish' that have longer lifespans and are resistant to cancer.
And the key to their longevity appears to be the ability to repair the damage in their DNA.
The team is now working to recreate these skills so that they are transferable to humans, returning cells to a younger functional state and delaying the onset of all age-related conditions.
The Asian elephant lives about 60 years in the wild and 80 years in captivity. If humans grew to the size of elephants, they would likely accumulate many cancer-causing mutations. But not elephants
Our bodies accumulate DNA damage as we are exposed to life's routine harms: UV rays from the sun, pollutants in car and industrial exhaust, and even charred food.
DNA repairs prevent the accumulation of gene mutations that ultimately lead to disease and death in old age, according to Cagan and others who have studied the animals.
'It is a very exciting time for aging research', Delphine Larrieu told the Cambridge Independent. “I think we'll see human anti-aging interventions emerge within the next decade.”
One place the researchers are looking for strategies is in the very largest mammals: elephants and whales.
Both mammals have unique genes linked to resisting cancer and repairing DNA damage.
Humans also possess the gene called p53, but have far fewer copies – just two compared to an elephant's 20.
Scientists believe this is why, despite their large size, they have an estimated cancer mortality rate of about 4.8 percent.
In humans, that number is 11 to 25 percent.
And whales have 2.4 times as many tumor suppressor genes.
The Greenland whale can live more than 200 years. Like the elephant, it grows quickly, defying human expectations about the development of cancer
The so-called 'immortal jellyfish' can live forever if predators don't kill it. The secret lies in the improved genome, with a large number of genes involved in DNA repair and replacement
If whales had the same risk of cancer per cell as humans, multiplied across their trillions of cells, they would never reach their first birthday.
“This suggests that whales must have better mechanisms for cancer resistance than humans,” Cagan said.
'It's possible that whatever they do to prevent aging – some can live up to 200 years – also makes them less likely to develop cancer.
'If mutations in DNA cause both aging and cancer, reducing the mutation rate through more precise responses to DNA damage could potentially solve both problems at once.'
The answer lies not in tumor suppressor genes, but in the direct repair of DNA damage in the bowhead whale, which can live more than 200 years.
Instead of eliminating cancer cells as p53 does, the Greenland Sea produces proteins that repair breaks in DNA strands, according to an unpublished study. study posted on bioRxiv in August.
While these mammals could hold the key to treating age-related diseases, the 'immortal jellyfish' could slow the aging process completely.
The jellyfish activates this 'superpower' to avoid predators, allowing it to turn into a cyst and then form as a polyp on the seabed.
When the threat is gone, the creature starts back on the path to adulthood.
This allows it to repair genetic damage and return to earlier stages of development.
Even after reaching sexual maturity, the immortal jellyfish can turn back into a larva.
According to researchers who examined its genomethis jellyfish is different from other jellyfish because it is “the only one that retains its high rejuvenation potential (up to 100 percent) in the post-reproductive stages, achieving biological immortality.”
The tiny jellyfish Cladonema pacificum can regrow a lost tentacle in just three days. It does this with a combination of regular and specialized stem cells, each of which regrows specific tissues
However, DNA repair isn't the only longevity strategy that humans can learn from animals.
According to new research published last montha small jellyfish from the Pacific Ocean belongs to the exclusive club of animals that can regrow lost body parts, and scientists know exactly how to do it.
Cladonema pacificum, a fingernail-sized jellyfish so unassuming it doesn't even have a common name, will regrow a lost tentacle within three days.
Researchers from Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo wanted to discover what exactly happens to the cells in a jellyfish's tentacle as it regenerates.
The team found that normal tentacle cells at the site of injury are helped by stem cells specifically designed to repair limbs.
Together, these two stems sprout a new limb from the stump of the lost one.
Scientists say these remarkable cells could hold the key to unlocking humans' regenerative potential, a holy grail for anti-aging and longevity research.