In <grovesa-0109950933580001 at 131.215.5.168> grovesa at starbase1.caltech.edu (Andrew K. Groves) writes:
>In article <UwyRwA3IBh107h at chambers.ak.planet.co.nz>,
>steve at chambers.ak.planet.co.nz (Steve Chambers) wrote:
>> Let's tidy this discussion up by reframing it. I say that if you
>> succeed in preventing aging you'll also have eliminated cancer. I'm
>> keen for anyone to present arguments to the contrary.
>An interesting thought - although do you also mean to include childhood
>cancers such as neuroblastomas, or embryonal carcinomas? These are
>screw-ups right at the outset of life, and whether they are also due to a
>manifestation of the ageing process is a moot point.
Sure, why not? Just because an aging process is most observable late
in life doesn't mean that it hasn't been going on throughout. Adults may
not have neuroblasts and other early development cell types but that's
not important - it's the somatic mutations (which can happen at any age)
that are the "aging" process of interest here.
Besides, we're quite happy to conceptualize Werner's and other progerias
as premature aging. Why not other age-linked phenomenon that occur in
childhood?
Steve
PS Andy - We're talking about aging of whole organisms here ;-)
Good to hear from you again.
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(I_lurk,_therefore_I_am!_\ ,,, Steve Chambers
(o o) steve at chambers.ak.planet.co.nz
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