One discovery in genetics that is already causing a stir involves a gene called MORF-4, short for Mortality Factor from the fourth human chromosome. This gene causes cells to live twice as long as they would normally, and a MORF-4 mutation promotes cell division well beyond its normal limit. Obviously, there are strong possibilities here.

An enzyme called superoxide dismutase enzyme, or SOD, has been used in the past in treating patients for fibrotic scarring after they have undergone radiation treatments. It has also been used to prevent further ongoing damage in heart patients. However, one of the more promising avenues concerning SOD involves the human gene responsible for its production, the SOD-i gene. This gene has been inserted into the cells of fruit flies. And although the fruit flies make their own SOD, with the addition of the human gene they were able to make even more. Most significantly, they showed a 40% extension to their life span.

Another study on ten rats involved having five of them injected every week with a water solution of DNA and RNA, saturated with chloroform. The five control rats lived out their normal life spans of about 900 days. The injected rats lived anywhere from 1600 to 1900 days, with one of them even living for 2200 days. In human terms, this would represent a life span of about 160 to 220 years. Of course, humans are not rats, but this experiment does point up the fact that there are promising results coming in from a wide variety of studies and experiments.

Some interesting experiments, done in England and completed in August 2000, have shown a doubling in the life span of nematode worms after treatment with superoxide dismutase. (September 7, 2000, Journal of Science)

In a study done on mice, a gene was replaced such that these mice had their life span extended. The important point here is the implication that at least some of the aging process is determined genetically, and that through genetic manipulation, extension to the life span is eminently possible.

Other projects of the future will almost certainly amass data from around the world based on DNA samples from people over 80. This will eventually permit a statistical and demographic analysis that will identify genes that correlate with longevity.

It may take two or three decades before major breakthroughs in genetic research provide ways to take the human life span up to 130 or 150 years. But with all the research going on, breakthroughs are almost certain to show up. In the interim, there will be the less dramatic discoveries unfolding, some of which will inch the life span along a year or two at a time.