Business & Tech
Novato Research Team Goes Back to the Future to Fight Father Time
Buck Institute scientists report a 14-percent lifespan increase among mice experiencing age-related heart disease taking a drug that's been on the market for years.
Scientists will probably never win the battle against Father Time, but a group of Novato researchers may have just won an important skirmish.
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging on Monday announced the results of a study it says offers hope to those suffering from age-related heart disease.
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And the Buck researchers did it with a drug that's already in their medical arsenal.
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They reported a 14-percent lifespan increase among mice experiencing age-related heart disease taking an immunosuppressant drug that's been on the market for years.
Rapamycin is used to help prevent organ-transplant rejection and in certain cancer treatments.
It was first discovered on Easter Island in the 1970s, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
“These findings are significant because we have no interest in simply extending lifespan without an accompanying improvement in the health and quality of life.” Buck Institute President and CEO Brian Kennedy said in a prepared statement.
“It is particularly encouraging that, in this case, an already-approved drug that extends lifespan also improved function late in life.”
Buck Institute researches added Rapamycin to the diets of 24-month-old mice (the human equivalent of 70-to 75-year-olds) who were demonstrated enlarged hearts, thick heart walls and reduced heart efficiency - symptoms humans suffering from age-related heart disease experience.
The age-related cardiac dysfunction either reversed or slowed down after three months of treatment according to Simon Melov, the study's senior author.
“When we measured the efficiency of how the heart pumps blood, the treated mice showed a remarkable improvement from where they started," Melov said in a prepared statement. "In contrast, the untreated mice saw a general decline in pumping efficiency at the end of the same three month period.
“This study provides the first evidence that age-related heart dysfunction can be improved even in late life via appropriate drug treatment."
