She lived for 115 years and was considered the oldest person in the world on her death in 2005. Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper lived a long life and seemingly spent it well, as she donated her body to researchers in pursuit of the mystery of human longevity and its limits.
Study lead author Dr. Henne Holstege from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam classified the genome of Andel-Schipper, looking forward to the possibility of unearthing what could be the secrets to a longer life based on her genes. The researchers found out through genetic analysis of her collected tissue and blood samples from an autopsy that the limits to human life might be pointed to the limited ability of cells to divide.
"To our great surprise we found that, at the time of her death, the peripheral blood was derived from only two active hematopoietic stem cells (in contrast to an estimated 1,300 simultaneously active stem cells), which were related to each other," Dr. Henne Holstege, lead author of the study, says in a statement.
By birth, humans have about 20,000 stem cells, of which 1,300 are said to be the active types. The recent study shows that at the time of her death two-thirds of her blood came from only two active stem cells. This only goes to show that almost all of her blood stem cells were burned out already and were dead.
Not only that, the research discovers that there were over 400 mutations in her healthy white blood cells, which her body allowed and surprisingly didn't bring about disease. Based on the study, when there is division of stem cells, mutations can occur, which is what happened to her. She was identified to be generally healthy, but hundreds of genetic mutations were seen in her cells.
"When there is mutation, there's an opportunity for selection and some somatic mutations lead to cancer," says Chris Tyler-Smith from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, United Kingdom.
The researchers also found out that her length of telomeres in blood cells was really short, as opposed to her other organs. It was even said to be 17 times shorter than her brain cells' telomeres, which seldom divide post-birth. Found at the chromosomes' ends and gives protection from damage, telomeres become shorter as cells divide or age.
This finding led the researchers to a theory that our stem cells could only make a limited number of divisions, before they crash and burn from division exhaustion. They also reveal that the reason why lives are limited may be because of the number of divisions our stem cells can only perform. They say her death -- and others who similarly lived long -- could have been caused by exhaustion of stem cells. They admit more researches should be done to affirm this.
Dr. Holstege, however, discloses the possibility of revitalizing aging bodies by injecting stem cells that are saved from early life or from birth, as these would be significantly free of mutations plus have full-length telomeres.
"If I took a sample now and gave it back to myself when I'm older, I would have long telomeres again - although it might only be possible with blood, not other tissues," she explains to News Scientist.
Born in 1890 in Holand, Andel- Schipper stated her willingness to donate her body to science after her death in a written consent she sent when she was 82 years old.
The study, titled Somatic mutations found in the healthy blood compartment of a 115-yr-old woman demonstrate oligoclonal hematopoiesis, was published on April 23, 2014 by Genome Research.
