The Anti-Aging Sweepstakes: Catalase Runs for the ROSes

摘要

Organism envy is the unavoidable fate of all who study the physiological genetics of aging in mice. If only our favorite rodents had the grace to die in a few weeks or months, like worms and flies, or better yet to do so after a round or two of hermaphroditic self-fertilization! Clinging desperately to the consoling mantra that mice are more or less just like people, we hold our breath waiting for a discovery in this diminutive mammal worth bragging about. Ergo the exhalations of relief attending thereport of Schriner et al. (1), on page 1909 of this issue, that overexpression of human catalase in the mitochondria of mice extends median and maximal life span by about 20%. Catalase prevents the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can damage cellular constituents. Although 20% may not seem like much compared to the 50% life-span extension seen in dwarf mice with hormone-altering mutations (2), it is roughly 5 times that predicted from complete abolition of human cancer or heart attack (3), and thus no small potatoes.