What if we managed to stop aging? Better, to rejuvenate our cells? For ten years, the scientific world has been tackling this immense challenge. At the Montpellier Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapies, researchers are already able to reprogram human cells to rejuvenate them. “My team was the first in the world to show that cellular aging was reversible,” says Jean-Marc Lemaître, research director at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
For a very long time, this research was associated with science fiction… Today, scientists agree that aging is the main risk factor for all chronic age-related diseases, such as cancer, diabetes or even cardiovascular diseases. Several rejuvenation techniques are already operational on animal models, such as mice, and could soon be applied to humans. Moreover, certain clinical trials are underway, particularly in the United States.
But be careful not to confuse the increase in the number of centenarians with the increase in life expectancy. “These two phenomena are not so closely linked,” warns Jay Stuart Olshansky, professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. And this is exactly what is happening across the Atlantic: life expectancy has decreased and the number of centenarians increased.
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