According to the latest anti-ageing breakthrough, mice can live up to 25 percent longer with a therapy based upon the same science that enables axolotls to regrow their severed limbs.
This technique protects rodents from multiple diseases and is being tested in human clinical trials at an early stage for fibrotic lungs disease.
The findings highlight the hope that a deeper understanding of genes and proteins can help humans live longer and healthier lives.
Stuart Cook, a Professor at Duke-NUS Singapore as well as the UK’s MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, said: “We’ve discovered a proinflammatory factor which drives ageing broadly.” We’ve discovered that inhibiting this factor increases healthspan – and lifespan as a result. It’s a cascade effect.”
The new study, , published on Wednesday in Nature, focuses on a protein called IL-11, which is responsible for inflammation. Scientists found that mice aged faster when this protein was produced.
The research revealed that deleting the genes responsible for IL-11 production helped protect mice from various diseases, metabolic decline, and frailty. The rodents lived an average of 24,9% longer.
The lifespan of mice in middle age was also increased by blocking IL-11 using an antibody. The males who were 75 weeks old — about 55 years for humans — lived 22.5% longer. For the females, it was 25.0%.
Researchers said that inhibiting IL-11 seemed to reduce the incidence of cancers associated with age, confirming earlier theories.
Cook stated that despite the fact that there were no human tests in this study, he is confident of seeing beneficial anti-ageing results on people.
IL-11 is a biologically important compound because it plays a role in the remarkable regeneration processes of certain species. According to research, it helps fish, tadpoles, and axolotls recover lost fins or limbs.
Cook compared IL-11’s role in ageing to pouring “petrol on a fire”. Cook compared IL-11 to putting “petrol on a flame” when it comes to ageing.
This research is a promising addition to the arsenal of anti-ageing technologies. Senolytics is another area of interest, which involves the removal of old cells.
Ilaria Bellantuono is a professor at Sheffield University who specializes in musculoskeletal aging. She said that the data collected by the Cook team was “solid”, but that the techniques they suggested were not necessarily superior to senolytics.
Bellantuono said that there was no evidence to suggest it would be effective in older age when the deficits become more prominent.
Even if these anti-ageing methods are successful, there will be challenges in implementing them. Frailty may be hard to identify and regulators do not always recognise it as a medical condition that can affect drug reimbursement.
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