In 2009, the journal Nature published several papers on rapamycin.
Some scientists divided nearly 2000 20-month-old white mice, which was equivalent to a 60-year-old human, into two groups. One group was fed with rapamycin while the other group was not.
The final experimental result was unexpected. The lifespan of the mice fed with rapamycin increased by an average of fourteen percent compared to the other group.
In the last century, scientists had discovered two ways to extend the lifespan of mammals. One was to "repair" genes, and the other was to control diet and reduce fat intake.
Needless to say, the method of gene repair was the Medpod.
It was something that could only be done with 3000 people.
The purpose of reducing fat intake was to reduce the activation of a protein molecule called TOR.
TOR was a signal molecule that the human body naturally secreted. It could regulate the growth of every cell in eukaryotes. When TOR was activated, it would cause cells to synthesize biomolecules, increase cell mass and size. Protein and nucleic acid synthesis increased, promoting the cell to become bigger and heavier.
If humans were to be compared to a large, sophisticated machine, even if they could continuously absorb energy from the outside world, the various "parts" in the body would wear out over the years. The activation of TOR was like making the parts work overtime in addition to meeting the basic needs of life, causing the machine to age faster.
The reason that rapamycin could extend the lifespan of mice was likely because it "tricked" the bodies of the mice into believing that their fat intake had been reduced.
Of course, all of this was not supported by any human clinical trial data. All applications for clinical trials using rapamycin to extend life were officially rejected.
Even so, between 2010 and 2020, there were still rumors of many doctors secretly taking rapamycin.
However, after ten years, the "life-extending drug" of rapamycin failed again.
In April 2020, the Journal of Clinical Medicine published a paper stating that too low TOR activity would cause the aging of the hematopoietic system.
In short, at the cellular level, inhibiting TOR could trick the body and slow down the aging of the human body. However, in the hematopoietic system, TOR activity was needed to support itself.
Excessive inhibition of TOR would directly cause the aging of the cell niches in the bone marrow, which in turn would cause the aging of the hematopoietic stem cell function.
Back then, Chen Chen had also considered improving the method of rapamycin or using a combination of drugs to offset the side effects and find a specific drug that could extend one's life.
It was only later that Chen Chen discovered that in the field of stem cells, the effects they could play on the human body were far greater and had more potential than this drug. Therefore, he gave up on rapamycin and focused on stem cells, finally developing the age-reversal treatment project.
Now, in the face of immune suppression, Chen Chen once again thought of this legendary drug. This could be considered as a form of retrospection.
In the following half a month, Chen Chen selected a clone and administered rapamycin, cyclosporine A, and FK506 to it every day. The combination of the three drugs quickly suppressed the immunity coefficient of the clone.
After the immune system of the clone body was suppressed, Little X extracted the clone body and placed it on the stretcher again.
This time, the clone was no longer injected with T-002. Instead, it was injected with T-003, which had been improved after two failed injections.
Compared to T-002, the T-003 virus was more complete. Two RNA errors had been knocked out and it was more compatible with Chen Chen's genes.
As expected, when faced with T-003, although the immune system of the clone had been suppressed, it easily broke the previous record of three hours and twenty-eight minutes. It did not die for a full six hours after being injected with the virus.
Not only that, but because the DNA in the clones was undergoing earth-shattering changes, Little X was constantly injecting a large amount of glucose, carbohydrates, and other nutrients into the clones to prevent the clones from dying from malnutrition instead of the T-virus.
In Chen Chen's eyes, the clone was constantly expanding like a fermented bun. Soon, it had grown to a height of two meters. The muscles all over its body were tangled together like a mini tyrant.
This was the first time Chen Chen and Little X had seen something like this.
However, the clone still died in the end. Its body could not withstand the transformation of the T-virus. Still, it was worth celebrating that the clone lasted for a total of eight hours.
The extension of time gave Chen Chen a new glimmer of hope.
Chen Chen wore a thoughtful expression as he looked at the cloned body that eventually became a zombie. "Although it failed, this experiment is still very instructive."
"Yes, there's no problem with our direction."
Little X said while controlling the Black Knight to collect the DNA of the clone, "Rapamycin can effectively suppress the body's rejection of the T-virus. Generally speaking, suppressing the immune system is a suicidal action. After all, the immune system of ordinary people can't compete with the T-virus at all. Suppressing the immune system will only speed up the person's death.
"However, if the T-virus matches the host's DNA, the result will be completely different."
With that, Little X compared the DNA of Chen Chen's tyrant clone with the DNA of the latest clone that had become a zombie. "See, we're getting closer and closer to the correct answer. However, we're only left with one mature clone. The new batch of clones will need another six months to mature."
As she said this, Little X became distressed. "Also, the more the modified T-virus approaches the formula, the slower its progress will be."
"That's normal."
Chen Chen nodded. "It's like a game. Fixing a bug will inevitably lead to the spawning of a new bug. Although the code can be constantly modified to make the game closer to perfection, as the game becomes more complete, the difficulty of fixing the bug will inevitably increase. These are all situations where a slight change in one part will affect the whole..."
"So, in the end, we still have to rely on luck?"
Little X asked.
Chen Chen nodded and sighed. "Just like when the Progenitor virus was modified into the perfect T-virus, there was an element of luck involved. There are many special medicines in the world, the original purpose of their research wasn't to target this disease. Their appearance itself is a form of luck."
"You can even say that... Scientific research itself has a certain element of luck. This is something that cannot be avoided, but the diligence and ability of the researchers can make up for this luck.
"After all, luck won't always be on our side, but diligence and ability can..."
After thinking for a while, Chen Chen added again. "Of course, money can also be used."
Little X: "..."
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