Scientists are one step closer to unlocking the secrets of anti-aging.
They announced the development of a miracle drug that deactivates a protein linked to accelerated aging and found that the treatment extended the life of rats by 25 percent.
In just 25 weeks after therapy, the animals had a lower risk of cancer, no gray hair, better vision and improved muscle function.
The 75-week-old animals, equivalent to a 55-year-old human, lived an average of 155 weeks, compared with 120 weeks for those that were not treated.
Humans inherited the protein, called interleukin-11, from fish about 450 million years ago.
The gene has been linked to chronic inflammation, scarring of organ tissues, metabolic disorders, muscle wasting and cardiac fibrosis.
The 75-week-old animals, equivalent to a 55-year-old human, that received the drug (right) lived an average of 155 weeks, compared with 120 weeks for those that did not receive the treatment (left).
“These findings are very exciting,” said co-corresponding author Professor Stuart Cook from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS).
‘The treated mice had fewer cancers and were free of the usual signs of aging and frailty, but we also saw reduced muscle wasting and improved muscle strength.
‘In other words, old mice that received anti-IL11 were healthier.
‘While these findings were made only in mice, they raise the tantalizing possibility that the drugs could have a similar effect in older humans.
‘Anti-IL-11 treatments are currently in human clinical trials for other diseases, which could provide interesting opportunities to study their effects in aging humans in the future.’
Professor Cook said BBC While the trial is not yet complete, the data suggests the drug is safe for humans.
The team conducted two experiments for their research, the first genetically modified rats to eliminate IL-11.
The removal extended the animals’ lives by more than 20 percent on average.
However, “dramatic” results were seen when they injected an anti-IL-11 drug, which prevented the protein from causing age-related effects in the body.
The team designed a miracle drug that deactivates a protein linked to accelerated aging and found that it extended the lifespan of rats by 25 percent.
Both male and female rats had an increased life expectancy of up to 25 percent.
The treatment not only offered protection against chronic disease and age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, but also reduced the rate of telomere shortening.
Telomeres are the caps at the end of each chromosome that hold them together.
As we age, telomeres wear down and shorten, leading to diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
“Our aim is to one day see anti-IL-11 therapy used as widely as possible, so that people around the world can live healthier lives for longer,” Professor Cook said.
‘However, this is not easy, as the approval processes for drugs to treat aging are not well defined and raising funds to conduct clinical trials in this area is a major challenge.’
Researchers have been investigating IL-11 for many years and in 2018 were the first to show that IL-11 is a profibrotic and proinflammatory protein, reversing years of incorrect characterization as antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory.
The drug is being tested in patients with pulmonary fibrosis, which occurs when the lungs become scarred and make breathing difficult.
Professor Cook said that while the trial was not yet complete, the data suggested the drug was safe for humans.
“This project started in 2017 when a collaborator of ours sent us some tissue samples for another project,” said Associate Professor Anissa Widjaja, co-corresponding author, from Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
‘Out of curiosity, I performed some experiments to check IL-11 levels.
‘From the readings, we could clearly see that IL-11 levels increased with age and that’s when we really got excited!
We found that these increasing levels contribute to negative effects on the body, such as inflammation and preventing organ healing and regeneration after injury.
‘Although our work was done in mice, we expect these findings to be highly relevant to human health, given that we have seen similar effects in studies of human cells and tissues.
‘This research is an important step towards a better understanding of ageing and we have demonstrated, in mice, a therapy that could potentially prolong healthy ageing, by reducing frailty and the physiological manifestations of ageing.’