The-Scientist.com, July 9, 2009, by Bob Grant – A drug used to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs and as an experimental cancer treatment in humans can significantly increase lifespan when given to adult mice, researchers have found. Mice that were administered the immunosuppressant rapamycin lived an average of 9-14% longer than mice that were not fed the drug, according to a paper published online in Nature yesterday (July 8th).
“This is pretty remarkable,” Panjak Kapahi, a geneticist at the Buck Institute for Age Research in California told The Scientist. “There might be more to gain in understanding the downstream effects, but this is already a wonderful start.” Kapahi, who was not involved with the study, added that, though preliminary, the finding opens the door for further research into the drug’s use for an anti-aging intervention in humans. “It should be applicable to humans, I think.”
David Harrison, a gerontologist at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor Maine and lead author on the paper, told The Scientist that 9%, though seemingly a modest life span increase, is significant when compared to the effect of eradicating some of the most common age-related diseases in humans. “If you prevented all deaths from cancer and atherosclerosis,” Harrison said, “it would be a little less than that.”
“This is pretty remarkable,” Panjak Kapahi, a geneticist at the Buck Institute for Age Research in California told The Scientist. “There might be more to gain in understanding the downstream effects, but this is already a wonderful start.” Kapahi, who was not involved with the study, added that, though preliminary, the finding opens the door for further research into the drug’s use for an anti-aging intervention in humans. “It should be applicable to humans, I think.”
David Harrison, a gerontologist at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor Maine and lead author on the paper, told The Scientist that 9%, though seemingly a modest life span increase, is significant when compared to the effect of eradicating some of the most common age-related diseases in humans. “If you prevented all deaths from cancer and atherosclerosis,” Harrison said, “it would be a little less than that.”
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