A Futuristic Medical Implant for Seniors

Many aspects of cancer and autoimmune diseases in aging patients are turning out to be “frenemies”, processes that earlier in life helped us, only to turn against us in old-age. At least five of these processes (innate immune-systems, adaptive immune-systems, cellular appetites, cellular-senescence, and amyloid/neutrophil scaffolds) could be “tuned” for optimal performance (tricky, as “optimal” may be a lesser of the evils). These processes are almost certainly interactive (and dependent on external conditions), so some sort of intelligent programming would be involved. Along with vaccines for most viral pathogens, average life expectancies (with such devices) may extend to 100 years or so.

Neutrophils-the way they’re supposed to work…by scouting out the enemies, holding them in abeyance, while alerting the killer T and B Cells (who move in for the coup de grace). Unfortunately, NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps) can gum up the works later in life, promoting arteriosclerosis and cancer metastasis. Could a wearable device detect and mute rogue neutrophils, and other physiological “frenemies”?

Is this a tricky article to write? You betcha…lots of factors involved, yet some sense is emerging from all our recent understandings of life processes…basically, the things that give us life, later may give us death, if not properly moderated. Do I think that living to 100 is a good thing? Well yes and no…most have done their life’s work by age 85 or so, and if you’re hanging on after that, you may be getting in the way of future generations (which may be why Nature has programmed our bodies for current lifespans…surely a vast subject for another article).

Vaccines: I will preface the description of this futuristic 5-way medical implant, with a call for more…