An experimental drug has increased the lifespans of laboratory animals by almost 25%, in a discovery scientists hope can also slow human ageing.

The treated mice, known in the lab as ‘supermodel grannies’ because of their youthful appearance, were healthier, stronger and developed fewer cancers than mice not medicated with the life extending drug.

The drug is already being tested in humans and although it is not yet know whether it would have the same anti-ageing results, there are already concerns over what effect this would have on population growth.

The quest to discover the secret to longer life is nothing new, as history shows. And scientists have long known the ageing process is malleable – laboratory animals live longer if you significantly reduce the amount of food they eat.

Now the field of ageing-research is booming as scientists and researchers try to uncover – and control – the molecular processes of ageing.

The research teams at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, and the MRC Laboratory of Medical Science, Imperial College London, were investigating a protein called interleukin-11. Levels of interleukin-11 increase in the human body as we get older, contributing to higher levels of inflammation which the researchers say flips several biological switches that control the rate of ageing.

The results, published in the journal Nature, showed that lifespans were increased by 20-25% depending on the experiment and sex of the mice.

Old laboratory mice frequently die from cancer. The mice lacking interleukin-11, however, had far lower levels of the disease. They were leaner, showed improved muscle function, had healthier fur and scored better on numerous frailty-focused tests.

One of the researchers, Prof Stuart Cook, was asked whether the data was too good to be believed. He replied: “I try not to get too excited”, adding that it was “definitely worth trialling in human ageing.”

Cook believes the impact would be transformative and stated that if it worked he was prepared to take the experimental life extending drug himself.

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.”

Widjaja added: “This research is an important step toward better understanding ageing and we have demonstrated, in mice, a therapy that could potentially extend healthy ageing.”

Ilaria Bellantuono is a professor of musculoskeletal ageing at the University of Sheffield. She said: “Overall, the data seems solid, this is another potential therapy targeting a mechanism of ageing, which may benefit frailty.”

The human trials are still in their early stages and likely to be a long way short of actually extending human life for any significant period of time. But if, in the near future, combatting human aging does become a reality, what are the consequences for overpopulation?

With the human population predicted to reach 11 billion by the end of the century, there are likely to be many who would prefer to see human life extending trials go no further.

Submitted by Friends of Retha


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