The latest research suggests that one of the genes that protects us from cancer may also help delay the ageing process.
A new study has found that a particular gene, p53 which has been previously linked to premature ageing, along with one of its cellular regulators, called Arf, may boost the body's antioxidant activity to keep cells younger longer and thereby slow down the aging process.
The regulatory chemical Arf, lets p53 know that a particular cell is in trouble and marked for elimination.
Manuel Serrano, a researcher at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, says the body ages as a result of the accumulation of faulty cells and p53 delays ageing for exactly the same reason that it prevents cancer.
The p53 gene, when it is working properly, ensures that damaged cells destroy themselves and do not divide uncontrollably to cause tumors; if the gene is mutated or inactivated the control mechanism does not work.
Previous cancer studies have also shown that p53 can actually cause premature ageing symptoms but Serrano says his research strictly regulated the gene so that it turned on only when needed.
The researchers genetically engineered mice to have an extra copy of p53 and found that the mice actually lived 16 percent longer even after the impact of having less cancer was accounted for.