A simple monthly injection allows mice to live 25% longer and free from diseases
The strategy — the injection of a simple antibody — has already begun to be tested in humans in an attempt to cure age-related illnesses
It seems too good to be true, but biochemist Jesús Gil speaks enthusiastically from his laboratory in London. “There is no reason to think that what we have seen in mice will not work in people,” he says. What they have observed in rodents is verging on the miraculous: a team of scientists has given monthly injections of a simple antibody to mice that are almost 18 months old, an age equivalent to 55 human years. These animals have lived up to 25% longer than their peers and in good health, with lower incidence of cancer, less cholesterol, and greater muscle strength. It is as if human life expectancy had skyrocketed to 104 years, instead of the current 83 in Spain, for example.
The results are visible to the naked eye, explains cardiologist Stuart Cook, co-director of the research at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences in London. “The mice that received the X203 antibody looked leaner and more active, with better coat color — fewer gray hairs — and better vision, hearing, and walking ability.”
Cook stresses that there are already trials in people of experimental treatments to block interleukin 11.
Antibodies are proteins that circulate in the blood to defend the body against foreign substances, such as viruses and bacteria. In the case of X203, it is designed to block another natural protein with potent effects on aging: interleukin 11, whose concentration increases with age, causing cells to stop multiplying while accumulating and releasing harmful substances that cause inflammation and damage to nearby cells.
The global scientific community is working on several promising strategies to extend healthy life, such as rapamycin and metformin, and even to reverse aging, which is the ambitious goal of Altos Labs, a U.S. company created in 2022 with a huge budget of some $3 billion.
Comments (5)
Забыли только рассказать, что интерлейкин 11 нужен для регенерации костной ткани. Можно, конечно, заблокировать, но тогда кости не будут срастаться
The mice results often poorly translate to people, as people are already long-living species, and a lot of things that you treat in mice with medical intervention gaining a significantly prolonged life, are already fixed in humans with evolution. So such treatments typically create marginal improvements in humans, however, even a marginal improvement in human lifetime expectancy is pleasant.
Они же пишут, что концентрация увеличивается с возрастом. Речь не идёт о том, чтобы убрать его совсем, только снизить концентрацию.
Ну я понимаю, но последствия непредсказуемые. Как сейчас выяснилось, модный оземпик увеличивает вероятность кровоизлияния в глаз
Для начала надо знать, насколько увеличивает и какой эта вероятность была до этого 😉 Ну, и ожирение тоже весьма вредно для здоровья.