Easter Island drug makes Methuselah mice
PARIS (AFP) - - A compound found in the soil of Easter Island stunningly boosts the lifespan of mice, enabling some to live more than 100 years old in human terms, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The remarkable molecule, a bacterial byproduct discovered in a sample taken from the remote Pacific archipelago in the 1970s, is called rapamycin, after the island's Polynesian name of Rapa Nui.
Rapamycin first came to light because of its qualities as a fungus fighter.
It was later used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients and then became incorporated into "stents" -- implants used to keep arteries open in patients with coronary disease. It is now in clinical trials for cancer treatment.
The latest step in this remarkable odyssey is the vision that rapamycin, or something like it, may one day massively boost human life expectancy.
"I've been in ageing research for 35 years and there have been many so-called anti-ageing interventions over those years that were never successful," said Arlan Richardson, director of the Barshop Institute, one of three centres that carried out the experiments.
"I never thought we could find an anti-ageing pill for people in my lifetime. However, rapamycin shows a great deal of promise to do just that."
Intrigued by findings that suggest rampamycin inhibits an enzyme linked to ageing in invertebrates, the researchers decided to add the drug to the diet of older mice.
The rodents were 20 months old at the time, which in human terms is equivalent to around 60 years of age.
Female mice with rapamycin added to their food lived 13 percent longer on average compared with non-rapamycin counterparts. Males which were fed the drug gained nine percent in their lifetime.
PARIS (AFP) - - A compound found in the soil of Easter Island stunningly boosts the lifespan of mice, enabling some to live more than 100 years old in human terms, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The remarkable molecule, a bacterial byproduct discovered in a sample taken from the remote Pacific archipelago in the 1970s, is called rapamycin, after the island's Polynesian name of Rapa Nui.
Rapamycin first came to light because of its qualities as a fungus fighter.
It was later used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients and then became incorporated into "stents" -- implants used to keep arteries open in patients with coronary disease. It is now in clinical trials for cancer treatment.
The latest step in this remarkable odyssey is the vision that rapamycin, or something like it, may one day massively boost human life expectancy.
"I've been in ageing research for 35 years and there have been many so-called anti-ageing interventions over those years that were never successful," said Arlan Richardson, director of the Barshop Institute, one of three centres that carried out the experiments.
"I never thought we could find an anti-ageing pill for people in my lifetime. However, rapamycin shows a great deal of promise to do just that."
Intrigued by findings that suggest rampamycin inhibits an enzyme linked to ageing in invertebrates, the researchers decided to add the drug to the diet of older mice.
The rodents were 20 months old at the time, which in human terms is equivalent to around 60 years of age.
Female mice with rapamycin added to their food lived 13 percent longer on average compared with non-rapamycin counterparts. Males which were fed the drug gained nine percent in their lifetime.
