Patent: Methods and Systems for Treating Cancer & Other Age-related Diseases by Extending the Healthspan of a Human

Ageing is inevitable and remains the most familiar aspect of human biology. Almost 1/5th of the human population would be individuals aged above 60 by 2050 as the average life expectancy has drastically increased during the last couple of decades. How we age is a matter of concern here as ageing is often accompanied by metabolic disorders such as diabetes and health problems, atherosclerosis and neurodegenerations. Enormous research on ageing that has resulted in finding pharmacological agents that can extend lifespan and healthspan shows that ageing is malleable. The main issue that remains here is to live a longer life that’s devoid of age-related functional decline and fragility that includes diseases such as cancer. Cancer causes millions of deaths annually and in the future one in every eighth person would be a victim of this disease. Ageing can be delayed and so can cancer. Muscle atrophy is one definite side effect of cancer and cachexia (extreme weight loss and muscle wasting) is a positive sign of death in almost 22-40% cancer patients. Presently, cachexia is treated by improving the individual’s appetite with appetite stimulants and protein supplementation so as to supply the patient with nutrients. This, apart from improving chances of survival also improves the chances that the cancer patient withstands treatment procedures successfully. But these treatment procedures including physical rehabilitation and treatment for underlying diseases is not successful and what we need is an effective treatment protocol for correcting muscle wasting that helps in extending both, lifespan and healthspan.
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We have always thought of procedures and treatments for inhibiting ageing in individuals which in turn helps to minimize the occurrence of diseases such as cancer. The invention patented here is of utmost use in each of our lives as it provides a method and system for extending healthspan and lifespan of humans as well as for preventing the onset of diseases such as cancer. Delaying ageing process delays/prevents the occurrence of debilitating illnesses such as cancer. The invention here looks at the large picture rather than its pieces in that rather than trying to deal with age-related pathologies one by one the invention tries to overcome age-related pathologies in general. By this, it focuses to bring an overall new approach to the current public health strategy which involves steps taken to prevent illnesses individually which can sometimes leave the patient susceptible to other illnesses in the treatment period.

Tomato fruit is mostly consumed by individuals in salads and curries and its consumption has greatly been associated with a reduced risk of inflammatory processes, cancer and non-communicable diseases that includes cardiovascular diseases (CVD such as heart disease, obesity and hypertension. One aspect of the invention uses a natural small molecule that’s been derived from tomato plants, tomatidine, that is associated with cell growth (majorly in skeletal muscle tissue). Basically, tomatidine is an inhibitor of muscle wasting and the invention here looks at providing cancer patients with bacteria that have been modified to produce tomatidine to address muscle atrophy linked to various cancers. Treatment for cancers are also linked to the production of p53, a tumor support factor. In one representation of the invention, cancer treatment was enabled by administering the microbiome of a subject with a bacterial combination that expresses p53 protein and tomatidine as in the case of breast, colorectal, kidney or bladder cancer. Particular agents and certain combinations are administered in various representation of the invention to lessen the occurrence of cancer which is due to the delay of ageing. One such agent is rapamycin (sirolimus), a bacteroid produced by the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

Administering rapamycin via microbiome helps in fighting against age-related diseases. Rapamycin is an inhibitor of mTOR complex (mammalian target of rapamycin) which is a serine threonine kinase and a regulator of protein synthesis, cell growth and cell metabolism. Excessive mTORC1 activity has been noticed in various types of cancers, inflammatory skin diseases, bowel disease and neurodegenerative diseases. Rapamycin is used in the invention to treat/prevent medical conditions by inhibiting the mTORC1 pathway. Tomatidine and rapamycin both are used to sort out cancer, ageing and cachexia as the former has the ability to preserve muscle mass while the latter reduces growth of muscles (basically prevents the growth of cancer cells).
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The modified bacteria used in the invention are administered directly though the mouth to deliver the therapeutic directly to the gastrointestinal tract. Shortening of telomers is associated with ageing but trying to rebuild shortened ends using telomerase often results in cancer. Ageing can cause telomer damage in the nucleus which in turn can trigger the activation of p53 that can have different effects on the individual. p53 is a gene that inhibits damaged cells to grow and this gene prevents cancer in younger people but at the same time, it can cause ageing by impairing the body’s ability to renew deteriorating tissues. Physical activity, diet modifications and addressing hormone signaling are all practical ways to extend human healthspan but the problem here is that most individuals don’t follow it. Shortening of telomers and using enzymes to rebuild telomers thereby lengthening the telomers at a risk of cancer is due to the effect of such enzymes on p53 mutation which deprives the individual of the cancer-inhibiting wild-type p53.

One representation of the invention looks at producing resveratrol by using an individual’s microbiome to delay ageing as well as treat cancer as it has been viewed to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and anti-cancerous effects. Hence, the basic principle of this invention is to achieve cellular rejuvenation by modifying microbes such that the individual’s own microbiome generates desired combinations of chemicals that extend life and health spans without altering the human genes. The patent was published on December 7th, 2017 and for more details on the patent please visit:

Untied States Patent & Trademark Office: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=32&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=(Kovarik+AND+cancer)&OS=Kovarik+AND+cancer&RS=(Kovarik+AND+cancer)

World Intellectual Property Organization: https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US206640361&_cid=P20-JYIL0P-06069-1