Want to Live to 150 Then Total Plasma Exchange Could Be Right for You

The last 18 months for me have been a revelation about the passage of time in a finite lifespan. At age 72 I feel robbed of a year in a life that is closer to its end than the beginning. I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge that the United Nations estimates state more than a half-million of us will reach age 100 this year. And should I reach the 100-year mark in 2049, the UN estimates I will be among 3.7 million achieving that milestone. So maybe I can still get in 28 more years of life in which to study, explore, create and interact with the world. Or maybe it will be more.

According to the science of late, age as a limit seems to be off the table. Researchers are discovering that the ageing process has a lot to do with how our immune system operates. If in overdrive it causes a hyper-inflammatory response which in time leads to diseases and conditions associated with old age: strokes, heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. So the thinking goes, if keep our immune systems calm, human life can be extended well beyond today’s upper limits which appear currently to be around 120?

Parabiosis Research Leads to the Evolution of TPE Therapy

Back in 2017, I remember reading a paper on a phenomenon known as parabiosis, in which the authors used the words “fountain of youth” in describing the outcome of their research. It was the first time I had seen this term which is a laboratory technique that links the physiology of two living organisms for experimental purposes.

A laboratory at UC Berkeley, headed up by Irina Conboy in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been using parabiosis in its research. In 2005 it published the results of an experiment involving two mice. Conboy studies rejuvenation of tissue maintenance and repair, the role that stem cells play, directed organogenesis (the development of our body tissues and organs from the embryonic stage to birth and beyond) and making CRISPR (the gene slicing and dicing tool) a therapeutic reality.

In her mouse experiment, the circulatory systems of two were enjoined producing some very interesting observations. One was a young mouse. The other, old. Within five weeks, the older one began exhibiting more youthful characteristics.

What were these? In examining stem cell activity, they were seen to be actively dividing and helping to regenerate muscle mass and liver function. In other words, the exposure to the young mouse’s blood was causing the older mouse to appear to be getting younger.

Follow-up research post the Conboy experiment has shown that whole blood isn’t needed to produce these same results. It turns out that blood plasma alone from a younger mouse can achieve the same rejuvenation results. This has led to the development of plasmapheresis, the therapeutic use of plasma to treat certain medical conditions.

The acronym TPE stands for Therapeutic Plasma Exchange, a procedure involving the passing of a person’s blood through an apheresis machine, a device which receives blood removed from a patient or donor’s body and separates it into its various components: plasma, platelets, white blood cells and red blood cells. With TPE treatment the red blood cells are retained and fresh plasma is infused into the recipient’s blood.  In addition to the plasma, albumin and immunoglobulin can be administered. The results of TPE therapy have been excellent for patients suffering from a number of medical neurological conditions such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and Myasthenia Gravis. But it also has application to many other diseases.

TPE research continues to evolve new plasma exchange “cocktails.” Combinations include saline, albumin, immunoglobulin and other solutions that when infused into patients produce regenerative results.

One study looked at treating Alzheimer’s Disease. It goes by the acronym AMBAR which stands for Alzheimer’s Management by Albumin Replacement. It involved 490 patients and was described in a 2020 paper published in Frontiers in Neurology. The TPE used was a cocktail of plasma, albumin, and immunoglobulin infused into some patients with others receiving a placebo. The study was looking at if the TPE cocktail could inhibit cognitive decline.

Applying the ADCS-ADL (Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study – Activities of Daily Living) a test composed of 23 daily functions (i.e., dressing, washing dishes, reading, cooking, etc.) the researchers compared patients’ functional and cognitive abilities before and after applying the cocktail to measure the level of disease progression.

The graph below shows the comparative results between TPE-treated patients and the placebo group with neurodegeneration rates lessened by 66% in the former compared to the latter. This is encouraging and a sign that TPE as a regenerative therapy has considerable promise.

So what does this all mean when it comes to ageing? Clearly, TPE therapy could be a game-changer when addressing natural ageing processes and diseases of the aged. In its reversing of the inflammatory effect of our body’s immune systems, it can allow for regenerative processes to continue to function normally well beyond 80, 90 or 100 years, buying us extra time.

What we choose to do with the gift of our increased longevity will be up to each of us. In an Onion article, I read today, God is complaining that he never has had the time to learn Spanish. With all the time he supposedly has, wow, what an excuse.

My regret during this pandemic is that I didn’t do what I promised myself at the outset after the lockdowns and before getting COVID. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Instead, as the days passed, and after coming out of the brain fog of COVID, two operations and three cancer scares, I did jigsaw puzzles instead. It is only in the past few months that I have seen the fog lift and have started writing this blog regularly again.

But now, if I get a TPE infusion, maybe mastering the guitar is in my extended future. I can even throw in Spanish as well. So there, God.