From a $1 pill that treats diabetes to a mysterious chemical unearthed on Easter Island, researchers are searching for ways to banish old age.
Many projects have focused on increasing the length of time that the person is healthy, while others have offered the hope of rejuvenating cells to make skin look 30 years younger.
A promising anti-aging treatment could be a drug used in chemotherapy and a compound found in vegetables, which allowed mice to live longer, reduced disease risk and boosted stamina.
Others have proposed stem cell injections to repair tissues, a pill that treats diabetes and resetting certain parts of the body – among others that could one day help humans hold on to their youthful glow.
‘There are so many promising areas of ageing research that it’s hard to highlight which is the most important,’ Andrew Steele, author of Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old, told DailyMail.com.
‘There are loads of exciting ideas anywhere from the drawing board to clinical trials
‘The key message is, though, we just need more funding for this science. In the US, around $1 per person per year is spent on public funding of ageing biology research, even though age-related diseases like cancer and dementia cause 85 percent of US deaths.’
Drugs that kill aged cells
One of the most promising areas of anti-ageing research is ‘senolytic’ drugs which kill aged, senescent cells, Steele explained.
In the lab, mice given a senolytic cocktail of two compounds, dasatinib (a drug normally used for chemotherapy) and quercetin (a ‘flavonoid’ found in fruit and veg) became ‘younger’.
‘It’s been shown in the lab that mice given essentially made them biologically younger,’ Steele explained.
‘They lived longer, got less cancer and heart disease, could run further and faster on a treadmill and, frankly, just looked great—after a course of senolytics, they had better fur, plumper skin, and so on.
‘There are currently more than two dozen companies trying to turn this from an idea that works in mice to one that works in people. So watch this space!’
The ‘reset switch’ for human cells
Altos Labs is backed with $3 billion in investor cash and is the biggest biotechnology launch of all time, with 500 employees and top scientists paid a reputed million dollars a year.
It’s backed by investment from Jeff Bezos (Elon Musk joked on Twitter, ‘If it doesn’t work, he’s gonna sue death!’), and aims to establish facilities in San Francisco and San Diego.
The Californian company focuses on cellular rejuvenation – finding a ‘reset switch’ for human cells.
In research by Altos Labs Vice President Wolf Reik, researchers used genetic switches known as Yamanaka factors on skin cells from middle-aged people.
After the cells grew in a lab dish, they were found to be 25 to 30 years younger.
Steve Horvath of Altos Labs said this year, ‘Nowadays we do see in certain ways that it might be possible to have interventions that extend our healthy years.
‘Many people follow influencers on social media that give advice on lifestyle, anything from intermittent fasting to certain exercise routines.
‘You may gain five years or whatever the number is, but it won’t be 50. And many people simply cannot exercise or follow a healthy lifestyle, for whatever reason, and they would like to have drugs to help.’
Altos Labs’ research is ongoing.
Stem cell injections
Multiple universities around the world are researching the effects of stem cells on ageing, including China’s Sun Yat Sen University, Tehran University and Harvard.
Stem cells are cells…
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