Is Immortality Possible ?

Today, increasing attention is being paid to the challenges of organ biofabrication, the prospects of using stem cells, and the ethical implications of life extension. Alexander Karasev, a physician specialising in clinical laboratory diagnostics and healthcare organisation, a member of the European Society of Human Genetics and the Federation of Laboratory Diagnostics, and the host of the Telegram channel "They Forgot to Ask Karasev," discussed these issues in detail in an exclusive interview with Pravda.ru.

Research is currently underway around the world, including in Russia, to extend human lifespan. We've developed a method called biofabrication—the creation of blood vessels and organs outside of the body. Could you please tell me if you've done this yourself? If so, how similar are the resulting samples to their natural counterparts? How does this process work?

"A few years ago, I was working on the problem of stem cells and their depletion during aging, developing therapies for complex diseases. We already know how to manipulate stem cells: freeze them, regenerate them, and transform them into cells with a specific function." 

When we try to grow organs and tissues in an artificial environment, difficulties arise: they don't form as they do in the embryonic period. A fully functional organ requires blood vessels, nerves, and connected systems. Therefore, claims about "3D-printed organs" are misleading. This is simply an organ-specific cell culture, which we've attempted to organize into layers—it's impossible to transplant, and it can't even be called an organ.

A more promising technology is one where we essentially grow an animal: we take a scaffold of a particular organ and blood vessels from it. All cells and proteins capable of triggering an immune response are removed, and the scaffold is then populated with human stem cells. This way, we overcome the immunological conflict and create a product ready for transplantation. The result is a semi-artificial organ, invisible to the immune system and possessing engineered properties. Essentially, it can replace a function. Such transplants have already been created, with both successful and unsuccessful attempts.

There's also a more radical, fantastical approach: growing genetically modified animals whose cells are as close as possible to human cells. Essentially, we're talking about breeding animals to suit our needs. Such experiments have already been conducted, and the first transplant results have been obtained. I see further technological development in this direction: genetic modification of humans is prohibited, but animal genetic modification is permitted. Essentially, we're talking about creating a "herd of donors" for each patient. Expensive, but possible.

There were successful experiments in creating a natural dental filling: cells grew bone tissue in an artificial environment, and this living filling was successfully used. There are plenty of sources of cells—epithelium, skin, and bone marrow. The younger a person is, the faster they divide. Interesting cells are also found in the nose: they develop into real neurons. These technologies have been used in attempts to transplant stem cells into nervous tissue, for example, in dementia, when neurons are rapidly lost and slowly restored. This doesn't work for everyone and not completely, but it's a fundamentally different method that can't be replaced by drugs.

There are prospects: the technological prerequisites have been created, and a considerable amount of research and patents have already been accumulated. "As far as I understand, this research is actively progressing. How long will it take, in your opinion, for us to have concrete results, and will it really be possible to grow an organ and then replace the heart, kidneys, or liver?"

"You've correctly identified the organs whose function can't be restored with pills—primarily the kidneys. The number of transplants is growing, and we ourselves are accelerating their loss with excess medications and supplements, chemical components in food, and contaminated water. All of this irreversibly affects the kidneys, and transplantation remains a significant option for prolonging life."

Regarding timelines, this raises a serious ethical question. Expensive life-extension technologies are only available to a select few, most often biohackers experimenting on themselves. Over time, such initiatives become cheaper and more scalable, but this takes decades. It will take at least ten years from the first successful experiments, for example, with a heart grown in an animal, to its introduction into medicine. Then regulators will step in and require additional research to protect patients from delayed side effects.

I think that within ten years, we will see these technologies as early experimental medical solutions, and later data will emerge on the possibility of scaling them up and refining them for safe use.

-Pravda.ru