After constant thinking, I decided to bring up this subject and explain, in a theoretical way, if the phenomenon we call "immortality" would actually work. To reach into this question, I've done quite some extensive work.

First things first. For an introduction, I need to find out how the process of living and dying works.
Further explanations are written below, as you continue reading.


1 - The DNA

In a simple explanation, we survive as living beings because our cells have the ability to duplicate and replace themselves before they are killed by environmental threats such as oxides and free-radicals. But for this to happen, our DNA molecule needs to make a copy of itself, resulting in 2 DNA molecules, allowing the old one to die and the new one to continue living.

A chain of repeating pairs of enzymes called telomeres prevail in the DNA molecule. These enzymes cover the external layer of chromosomes and protect the DNA molecule from losing any of its vital part.

The thing is, as we get older, the lenght of the telomeres gets shorter. The protection vanishes from the DNA molecule and when the cell tries to duplicate itself, it fails and rusts to death. Remember oxides and free-radicals? Cells that stop duplicating wear out and die. This is called Haylick limit. It measures the number of times a cell can divide itself before it stops.

There is another enzyme called telomerase that prevents the telomeres from wearing off too much and die. As obvious as it may seem, these enzymes decrease as we get older. However, a cell can save itself from dying by turning into a cancer cell, which turns on the telomerase enzyme and accelerates telomere production, allowing the cancer cell to constantly live.

The main obstacle against these enzymes is cancer. Cancer originates from mutant cells that produce telomeres. If a healthy cell makes an error in copying itself, that error will prevent it from copying itself again and avoiding it from turning mutant and pre-cancerous. However, cancer will just turn on the production of enzymes in these cancer cells and make them immortal, so they can duplicate themselves and spread the tumors.

To prevent tumors brought by cancer, somehow we are programmed to shut down telomerase production since we all have mutant cells in our bodies. Nevertheless, some mutant cells reactivate their telomeres, bringing back tumors. So basically, we are programmed to die to be saved from being pierced with tumors.


2 - Telomeres


These enzymes, as it was said earlier, serve as an external cover for the DNA molecule so it cannot die from duplicating itself.
To prevent cancer and tumors, we need to detect cancer cells. Since the production of telomeres in a cancer cell is faster than in a healthy cell, the organism is programmed to get rid of them. Cells will either die from duplicating too much after they've no telomeres left, or turn into cancer cells, which will also end dying by our organism.
Old people usually suffer from diseases and tumors because of the many healthy cells that turned into cancer cells over time.


3 - Possible solutions for life extending

There could be many solutions to extend our lifetime:

1. Trigger and extend telomerase production in healthy cells.
2. Protect healthy cells from oxides and free-radicals.
3. Repair damage done by oxides and free-radicals.
4. Rejuvenate telomeres as soon as their lenght reaches a critical value.
5. Rejuvenate telomerase production as soon as they decrease to a critical value.
6. Cure cancer cells.
7. Slow down cell duplication processes.

4 - Immortality Rate Formula

Following the logic of the behavior of our cells, I decided to develop a formula that calculates our proximity to immortality, based on the number of normal healthy cells and cancer cells. The Immortality Rate Formula goes as:



Hc = Normal healthy cells (They do NOT produce telomerase!);
Cc = Cancer cells (These produce telomeres automatically by triggering an enzyme called telomerase);