---
title: 'The Cold War for Life Extension Has Begun'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=RzhRvfL0uzE'
video_id: 'RzhRvfL0uzE'
date: 2026-07-31
duration_sec: 667
---

# The Cold War for Life Extension Has Begun

> Source: [The Cold War for Life Extension Has Begun](https://youtube.com/watch?v=RzhRvfL0uzE)

## Summary

The video analyzes a hot-mic moment between Putin and Xi about living to 150, and Russia's claimed gene therapy targeting the RAGE receptor. It explores the biology of the RAGE pathway, the current evidence for and against blocking it, and frames longevity research as a new Cold War battleground.

### Key Points

- **Putin and Xi Discuss Immortality** [00:02] — Putin's interpreter was heard saying biotechnology enables continuous organ transplants and could lead to immortality. Xi replied that some predict humans may live to 150 this century.
- **Russia's Gene Therapy Claim** [00:43] — Deputy Science Minister Denis Sekirinsky claimed Russia developed a gene therapy for longer life, coincidentally after David Sinclair's lab started the first FDA-approved anti-aging trial for partial cellular reprogramming.
- **The RAGE Pathway** [01:23] — The therapy targets RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products), encoded by the AGER gene, which acts as a sensor for stress and damage signaling. AGEs and other ligands build up with age and activate inflammatory pathways.
- **How RAGE Blocking Works** [02:03] — Blocking RAGE could mean silencing the RAGE gene, delivering a decoy receptor like soluble RAGE, or blocking its signaling using engineered DNA or RNA.
- **Why RAGE Matters** [02:44] — RAGE activation drives chronic inflammation (NF-κB), oxidative stress, vascular aging, kidney injury, and neurodegeneration. It binds amyloid beta, linking it to Alzheimer's disease.
- **Current Evidence Gap** [03:35] — There is no public evidence of completed human or animal trials for this gene therapy. RAGE knockout mice show less inflammation, oxidative stress, and kidney lesions, but no strong evidence it extends healthy lifespan.
- **Azeliragon's History** [04:29] — Azeliragon (TTP488), an oral RAGE antagonist developed for Alzheimer's, reached phase 3 trials but failed to show convincing benefits in 2018. It's now being tested for pancreatic cancer.
- **RAGE Is a Weak Longevity Target** [05:47] — Compared to mTOR, IGF-1, or cellular senescence pathways, RAGE has less evidence for lifespan extension. It might reduce vascular, kidney, and inflammatory damage in disease, but for healthy people the benefit is probably minimal.
- **Longevity Gene Therapy Landscape** [06:27] — Main approaches include partial reprogramming (Yamanaka factors), telomerase, Klotho, follistatin, FGF21, RAGE inhibition, and senolytics. Most advanced trials are in Western countries.
- **Monkey FOXO3 Study** [08:29] — Monkeys injected with senescence-resistant human mesenchymal progenitor cells gene-edited for FOXO3 showed biological clock decreases of 2–7 years (human equivalent 6–15), 30–40% brain function improvements, and increased bone density, but only 54% of organs improved.
- **The New Cold War** [09:50] — Competition is now in AI, robotics, drones, chips, and biotechnology. Life extension is framed as a strategic technology to keep leaders, soldiers, and scientists healthy longer.

### Conclusion

There is no proven longevity gene therapy yet, and the RAGE pathway seems like a weak target for extending healthy lifespan. However, Russia and China are actively investing in this field, signaling that life extension has become a geopolitical race.

## Transcript

visited China for a military parade. During the event, Putin and Xi were caught in a hot mic moment talking about living to 150. Putin's interpreter was heard in Chinese saying, "Biotechnology is continuously developing. Human organs
can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the longer you become, and you can even achieve immortality." Xi, who was not on camera, responded, "Some predict that in this century, humans may live to 150 years old." Let
want dictators to get hands on their technology that would make them live do ever develop these technologies, they're going to be one of the first people to get it. And in April 2026, the Russian Deputy Science and Education
Minister, Denis Sekirinsky, claimed they developed a gene therapy that could make people live longer. There are reasons to not trust what high-ranking Russian officials and scientists are saying, because his claim of developing the
coincidentally comes after David Sinclair's lab started the world's first FDA-approved anti-aging trial for partial cellular reprogramming. So there is an element of Cold War propaganda into this, like a space race for
to make this video to look at what does like. Because let's be honest, eating a healthy diet, exercising, and sleeping enough is not going to make you live to the age of 120 and 150. To make humans
we're going to need something more dramatic, such as gene therapies. So the pathway this new Russian anti-aging gene therapy is supposed to target is called RAGE, receptor for advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. You've probably
heard of advanced glycation end products that get formed when protein interacts with heat or sugar. RAGE is a cell surface receptor encoded by the AGER gene that acts like a sensor for stress and damage signaling. As we age,
and damage signaling. As we age, molecules such as AGEs, HMGB1, S100 inflammatory ligands build up in the body. When these molecules bind to RAGE on the cell membrane, they activate
internal signaling pathways that increase inflammation, oxidative stress, announcement appears to say that they're creating a therapy that blocks RAGE. probably mean one of three things: silencing the RAGE gene, delivering a
decoy receptor like soluble RAGE, or blocking its signaling using engineered DNA or RNA. Russia's Deputy Science Minister Denis Sekirinsky reportedly said the project is being developed by the Institute of Aging Biology and
Medicine and aims to create the world's first gene therapy drug that blocks the RAGE receptor. The rationale is plausible because RAGE sits at the intersection of several aging pathways. Number one, chronic inflammation. RAGE
activation can drive inflammatory signaling, including NF-κB related pathways. Chronic low-grade inflammation or inflammaging is often implicated in age-related disease. Number two, oxidative stress. RAGE signaling is
associated with reactive oxygen species. The knockout mouse data suggests less oxidative stress when RAGE is absent. Number three, vascular aging. AGEs accumulate with age and diabetes. The AGE-RAGE axis is strongly linked to
arterial aging, vascular stiffness, endothelial dysfunction, and kidney and metabolic disease. RAGE and kidney injury in animal models. Blocking it could reduce age-related
organ damage, especially where glycation and inflammation are high. Number five, neurodegeneration. RAGE binds amyloid beta and has been studied in Alzheimer's disease. That's why azeliragon was pursued clinically as an Alzheimer's
treatment. Unfortunately, there's no public evidence of completed human or animal trials using this gene therapy. For any potential anti-aging treatment to work in humans, you would first need to have some data from animals because
you would first test it in animals before you test it in humans. One genetically modified to not have the RAGE receptor had less inflammation and oxidative stress. Deleting RAGE reduced age-related kidney lesions. However,
There is some animal evidence that blocking RAGE improves survival in disease models, especially ALS and sepsis, but there is no strong evidence yet that RAGE inhibition extends normal lifespan in healthy aging mice. The best
aging evidence so far is more like healthspan. Less kidney aging, less inflammation, less oxidative stress, and less tissue damage. There have also been non-gene therapy RAGE inhibitors. The best known is azeliragon or TTP488,
which is an oral RAGE antagonist developed for Alzheimer's disease. It did reach phase three trials in humans, but the Alzheimer's program didn't produce convincing clinical benefits. For Alzheimer's, azeliragon was
effectively abandoned after the failed phase three results in 2018. However, the drug itself is not completely abandoned. Another company is now testing it for different diseases, including pancreatic cancer. So, it's no
Alzheimer's candidate, but RAGE blocking drugs are still being explored for other diseases. So, overall, it seems that blocking this RAGE pathway could have some anti-inflammatory effects, and it might improve survival in certain
disease conditions, such as kidney disease or some vascular diseases. Now, then on the one hand, you can see that they would have higher rates of kidney disease or higher rates of heart disease. But on the other hand, if you
consider the RAGE pathway in of itself as an anti-aging pathway, then it's not animal data showing that it would it to something else, like the mTOR pathway, IGF-1, or even cellular
senescence, then the RAGE pathway appears to be a lot weaker signaling There's a whole lot of evidence for the mTOR pathway, the cellular senescence, not that much for the RAGE pathway at the moment. Mechanistically, yes,
down aging because you might have slightly lower vascular damage, lower kidney damage, lower inflammation. But for otherwise healthy people, is it much? Probably not. There's definitely no evidence that blocking this RAGE
pathway would make you live to the age of 150. Another issue is that the RAGE of the immune system. It helps to detect damage and infections. Your body needs some information to fight infections. So, completely blocking this RAGE could
have unintended consequences such as a weaker immune response or weaker tissue repair. Right now, there are no proven longevity gene therapies out there. However, this entire field sounded like sci-fi even just 10 years ago. But
nowadays, you have a lot more research being done on these longevity gene therapies. Here's a list of the main ones. Partial reprogramming, the target being OSK Yamanaka factors. This is probably the most advanced gene therapy
or related to it. Lifebar Sciences, which is David Sinclair's company, received FDA clearance for optic neuropathies using their ER100 cellular reprogramming method. Telomerase gene therapy targets tert, which helps with
data showing that it could have benefits, but there's also the risk of increased cancer risk as cancers are characterized by higher tert expression. Klotho gene therapy targets klotho protein, which is promising for brain,
kidney, muscle, and vascular aging. There are some human trials listed for klotho gene therapy, mainly for the sake of Alzheimer's. Follistatin gene therapy is supposed to inhibit myostatin. Myostatin is this protein that prevents
you from building muscle. By inhibiting myostatin, you'll build more muscle and preserve muscle more easily. FGF21 gene therapy targets FGF21. It's supposed to help with metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, obesity, and liver disease.
preclinical. RAGE inhibition, as we discussed, is one target, but there's no mention humans. And lastly, the senolytic gene therapies that are cells. There's some animal data about senolytics, but not a lot for humans.
Most of these trials are done in Western countries. Russia and China are the anti-aging and longevity field. However, we should be careful with the seems to be focusing a lot on these bio-regulators and some gene therapies,
whereas China is focusing a lot on regenerative medicine like stem cells. that these dictators want to pursue immortality. The more interesting idea are trying to use these technologies as
and national defense. For example, last year there was another popular headline genetically engineered stem cells, and it was claimed that they reversed signs of aging in monkeys. The monkeys were injected with senescence-resistant human
mesenchymal progenitor cells, SRCs. They were derived from human embryonic stem cells. They then gene edited the stem cells, specifically the FOXO3 gene, to introduce double mutations that resulted in higher FOXO3 expression. FOXO3 is a
gene that's been seen to have longevity effects in animals and in humans. The longest-living humans have higher FOXO3A expression. FOXO3A is a gene that regulates stress resistance and resilience, basically making the
exercise, and energy deprivation. What they found after 44 weeks was that their biological clock scores decreased by about 2 to 7 years, which in humans would be the equivalent of 6 to 15 years. They also saw improved brain
function, about 30 to 40% improvements in accuracy and latency, and their cortical thickness looked 3 to 5 years younger. Their bone density increased, their immune function increased. However, only about 54% of the organs
analyzed improved. These results sound quite impressive, and they are to a be taken with a grain of salt. Number one, no, the monkeys didn't become 7 years younger. They saw a reduction in DNA methylation and biological age
clocks that predict biological age compared to others of the same species. confirmation that the monkeys actually got younger. Some of the organs reverse aging. The underlying message that I think a lot of people miss is the
new Cold War element. During the original Cold War, the Soviet Union and weapons, space technology, military engineering, and scientific prestige. propaganda. They were about power, deterrence, economic influence, and
global dominance. Today, a similar competition is happening again, but the battlefield has changed. Nowadays, the countries are competing in artificial intelligence, robotics, drone warfare, chip manufacturing, and including
biotechnologies, which includes life extension and medicine. Because think discovers a massive anti-aging and longevity medicine is going to be a lot ahead of the other competitors. They can regenerate organs, preserve cognitive
function, or keep soldiers, scientists, and their leaders healthier for longer. technology that has proven to extend human lifespan, but every year, closer. And even though Russia and China hasn't made any actual breakthroughs in
this, at least they're trying, right? They are actively investing and actively trying to develop this field, which is an important point, because if you're closer. But as I said in the beginning, we don't want dictators and
technologies first. If you want to know how to give yourself the greatest the benefits of these future technologies, then check out this video technologies, then check out this video next.