Although anti-aging remedies may be morepeople live longerthis increase in life expectancy is mainly associated with the development of age-related diseases. These would be, for example, cancer or type 2 diabetes. This is why a major new parliamentary report has been published in the UK. This advocates greater investment in novel treatments that slow aging. Such an approach could give people five more years of healthy, disease-free lives.
New concept for well-known anti-aging remedies
The hope is that such treatments will either shorten the duration of the disease or extend the overall lifespan while keeping the duration of the disease the same. To date, it is known that aging is caused by nine biological mechanisms. These are sometimes referred to as the hallmarks of aging. Umto prevent aging processes, people need to be able to slow or prevent these characteristics of aging. While numerous treatments are currently being investigated, two approaches currently hold the most promise. These could slow the development of age-related diseases. One area that researchers are investigating is already known anti-aging agents. This method is advantageous because billions have already been spent testing the safety and effectiveness of these drugs. They are already in routine clinical use in humans, with two promising candidates in particular.
The first drug is rapamycin, which was originally developed as an immunosuppressant. However, at low doses, the lifespan of mice was found to increase by about 15%. This is accompanied by the slowing of several age-related changes such as tendon stiffness and liver and heart degeneration. It has been shown in other animal models to slow the development of Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases. In older people, it dramatically improves immune function and vaccine responses. Rapamycin slows aging by inhibiting the protein mTOR. The second promising drug is metformin. Originally approved to treat type 2 diabetes, after decades of use, researchers found that patients who took it had lower rates of death and morbidity, regardless of diabetes. Data from a number of cell, animal and human studies show that metformin suppresses inflammation caused by senescent cells.
Future anti-aging treatment
Another category of drugs currently being developed are senolytics. These aim to kill or modify the behavior of senescent cells during cell aging. This would prevent these cells from accumulating in the body. This could slow down age-related physical decline. These drugs, including compounds such as dasatinib, navitoclax, quercetin (found in many fruits and vegetables), and fisetin (found in strawberries), have been found to kill senescent cells. Senolytics have already shown promise in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Both are age-related diseases that are partly caused by cell aging. There is also evidence that resveratrol, a compound found in grapes, reverses cellular senescence. A better understanding of these processes could provide clues to the development of more effective treatments. But scientists won't know until the treatments are put into human trials.
