Could XI and Putin be on something?

Is it possible to become immortal using organ transplants? This was the subject of unexpected discussion this week between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met during a military parade in Beijing.

A translator, speaking in Mandarin in the name of Putin, explained to Xi how human organs can be transplanted several times “so that one can become younger and younger” despite age, and could even be able to avoid old age “indefinitely”.

“It is expected that during this century, it could become possible to live at 150,” he added.

Their smiles and laughter suggest that it was a bit of jokes, but could they be on something?

Organ transplants certainly save lives – in the United Kingdom, more than 100,000 people have been saved in the past 30 years, explains the blood and transplantation of the NHS.

And continuous progress in medicine and technology of the medium transplanted organs last much longer once in people.

Some patients have had a kidney transplant which has continued to work for over 50 years.

The lifespan of an organ depends on the health of the donor and the receiver – more to what extent they are dealing with.

For example, if you should have a new kidney from a living donor, you might expect it to last 20 to 25 years.

If you get it from a deceased donor, this falls at 15 to 20 years.

The type of organ also counts.

A liver could last about 20 years, a 15 -year -old heart and lungs almost 10 years, according to research.

Putin and Xi can speak of several transplanted organs and perhaps on several occasions.

However, undergoing surgery is a large company with significant risks. Whenever you pass under the knife, you roll the dice.

Currently, people who get a new organ must also take strong anti-rejection drugs called life immunosuppressants. These can have side effects, such as high blood pressure, and increase the risk of infections.

Rejection – When your immune system begins to attack the transplanted organ because it recognizes it as coming from a different person – can sometimes occur even if you take your medication.

Scientists work to make organs without rejection, using genetically modified pigs as donors.

They use a gene editing tool known as CRISPR to eliminate some of the pork genes and add certain human genes to make the organ more compatible.

The selection of special pigs for this is ideal, say the experts, because their organs are roughly the right size for people.

Science is always extremely experimental, but a heart and a renal operation have continued.

The two men who agreed to have the procedures were pioneers of this new field of transplantation medicine.

The two have died since but have helped to advance xenotransplantation – the transplant of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.

Another Avenue Explored is the growth of new organs using our own human cells.

Stem cells have the ability to develop in any type of cell or tissue found in the body.

No research group has yet been able to manufacture fully functional and transplanable human organs, but scientists are getting closer.

In December 2020, British researchers UCL and the Francis Crick Institute rebuilt a human thymus – an essential body of the immune system – using human stem cells and a bio -designed scaffolding.

When he is transplanted in mouse as a test, he seemed to work.

And scientists from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London say they have cultivated human intestinal transplants using stem cells of the patient tissues that could one day lead to personalized transplants for children with intestinal insufficiency.

But these advances aim to treat poor health, rather than keeping people alive at 150.

Technological entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, on the other hand, spends millions per year trying to reduce his biological age.

He has not yet tried to obtain new organs – as far as we know – but infused plasma from his 17 -year -old son.

He has since stopped this, after having seen any advantage and an increased medical examination of organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Julian Mutz of King’s College of London said beyond organ transplantation, approaches such as the replacement of plasma are explored, but these remain experimental.

“The question of whether such strategies will have a significant impact on the lifespan, in particular the maximum human life, remains uncertain, although it is a field of considerable scientific interest.”

Professor Neil Mabbott, an immunopathology expert at the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh, speculates that living up to 125 years could be the upper limit.

“The Verified Living Person was a Frenchwoman, Jeanne Calment who lived for 122 years, between 1875 and 1997,” he told BBC News.

And while damaged and sick organs can be replaceable by transplants, as we age, our bodies become much less resilient or capable of facing physical stressors.

“We are starting to respond less effectively to infections, and our body becomes more fragile, subject to injuries and is less able to recover and repair.

“Stress, trauma and the impact of transplantation surgery, as well as the continuous use of immunosuppressive drugs necessary to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs would be too serious in patients of this same advanced age.”

He says that rather than focusing on the extension of life, we should rather strive to live in good health.

Professor Mabbott said: “Living much longer, but suffering from multiple morbidities that can accompany aging, and in and in the hospital for another fabric transplant does not seem an attractive way to pass my retirement!”