The answer lies in the cancer

Most cancers are the result of "immortal" cells that have ways of evading this programmed destruction of telomere. Cancer cells use every trick in the book to gain immortality. One of their cleverer maneuvers is to keep the little caps, called telomeres, at the end of their chromosomes long. As a normal cell divides, its telomeres gradually erode, eventually becoming so short and dysfunctional that the cell is marked for death. As harsh as this may sound, it's exactly what should happen; eliminating aging cells is one of nature's most successful tumor-blocking strategies. But cancer cells are somehow able to reactivate an enzyme called telomerase, enabling them to divide indefinitely. In fact, the association between tumor formation and telomerase activation is undisputed —about 90% of tumors rely on telomerase to thrive.

Notes:

Man has always longed to live forever. He has continually pushed the frontiers of science in his attempt to reach this goal.Immortality is the ultimate quest for redemption in humanity. Its universal application transcends time, space, and culture appearing in stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh composed some 4000 plus years ago, to novels of the twenty first century

If you are in good health,you can live to 120 years but not much longer,because at age 120 you reach the hayflick limit -maximum times a cell can divide and make new cells.

Telomere, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration, is thought to be the "clock of aging" contained within the human body. Many scientists believe that the limit on lifespan and decline in health is imposed by the gradual shortening of our telomeres that occurs with every cell division. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that a human cell that does not undergo telomere shortening will divide indefinitely and is, by all available measurements, immortal.

Now researchers have discovered the first compound that activates telomerase – an enzyme that lengthens telomeres – in the human body, potentially opening the door to arresting or even reversing the aging process. Human cells can keep living and dividing indefinitely when telomerase is continually present; i.e. the cells become immortal

A natural product derived nutraceutical known as TA-65, was shown to lengthen the shortest telomeres in humans, potentially extending human lifespan and healthspan. Telomerase activation is thought to be a keystone of future regenerative medicine and a necessary condition for clinical immortality. Although TA-65 is probably too weak to completely arrest the aging process, it is the first telomerase activator recognized as safe for human use.

Folksonomies: immortality

Taxonomies:
/health and fitness/aging (0.551423)
/health and fitness/disease/cancer (0.315813)
/science (0.251452)

Keywords:
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Entities:
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Concepts:
Senescence (0.976232): website | dbpedia | freebase
Telomerase (0.813423): dbpedia | freebase
Cell division (0.686741): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Telomere (0.669367): dbpedia | freebase
Hayflick limit (0.554957): dbpedia | freebase
Aging (0.540833): dbpedia
Cancer (0.534669): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
DNA (0.507392): website | dbpedia | freebase | yago