Medical researchers have shown that a longevity drug extended the lifespan and healthspan, of mice by 25%. The treated mice had better health, greater strength, and fewer instances of cancer compared to their untreated counterparts.
The team from Imperial College London and Duke-NUS Medical School based their approach around the protein interleukin-11's role in aging. As people age, levels of this protein rise, contributing to greater inflammation. They also believe it controls biological processes that control how fast we age. So using genetic engineering, they switched off production of interleukin-11 in the lab mice or used a drug to eliminate it from their systems. In the image above, the mice are the same age but the one on the right received the anti-aging treatment.
From the BBC News:
Old laboratory mice often die from cancer, however, the mice lacking interleukin-11 had far lower levels of the disease.And they showed improved muscle function, were leaner, had healthier fur and scored better on many measures of frailty[…]
Prof Anissa Widjaja, from Duke-NUS Medical School, said: "Although our work was done in mice, we hope that these findings will 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 toward better understanding ageing and we have demonstrated, in mice, a therapy that could potentially extend healthy ageing."
Previously:
• Why this man takes 75 pills every single day
• 111-year-old Briton, the world's oldest man, credits fish and chips for longevity
