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Lab mice given an experimental drug have been jokingly dubbed “supermodel grannies” because they look so youthful despite aging beyond their expected lifespan, according to a new study.
As BBC ReportsClinical trials in mice have already shown tantalizing success with drugs that are thought to excrete a protein called interleukin-11, which helps bone formation early on but triggers the kind of inflammation that causes many of the diseases associated with ageing later in life.
Published in journal NatureA paper on the study, conducted by scientists from Imperial College London, Duke University-NUS in Singapore and the MRC Institute of Medical Research, found that mice treated with a drug to remove interleukin-11 were leaner, had healthier coats and showed significantly reduced levels of cancer compared to mice of the same age.
This drug also: press release Research published by a British government research institute found that the average lifespan of male mice was extended by 22.4% and that of female mice by 25%.
Researchers are now working to understand whether the same results occur in humans.
The drug, which produces an antibody that targets interleukin-11, is also currently being tested in patients with pulmonary fibrosis, a condition in which scarring of the lungs causes breathing difficulties.
Although human trials have yet to be completed, researchers studying this treatment are optimistic about its potential.
“This study is an important step towards a deeper understanding of aging,” Professor Anissa Wijaya of the Duke University/National University of Singapore School of Medicine in Singapore said in a press release. “We have demonstrated in mice a potential treatment to extend healthy aging.”
Colleague and co-author Stuart Cook from Duke University and NUS was even more enthusiastic, calling the drug’s potential “fascinating” in a UK press release.
Cook is trying not to get ahead of himself, though. BBC He is excited about the research and said that if the drug has similar anti-aging effects in humans, it would be “transformative” and that he would take it himself.
“There are a lot of quack drugs out there,” the cardiologist says, “so I try to stick closely to the data. Data is the most powerful thing out there.”
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