Lifespan|The life span of the mice increased by almost a quarter when interleukin-11 was removed from their bodies. No side effects have been observed in human trials.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
The researchers tampered with the interleukin-11 protein. It slowed the aging of the mice.
The lifespan of mice in the laboratory was increased by 20–25 percent when the effect of interleukin-11 was blocked.
Mice that were not affected by interleukin-11 developed less cancer than usual.
The drug is now being tested in patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Other evidence is still needed if interleukin-11 manipulation is to extend human lifespan.
Mice were known in the lab as “elderly supermodels” because they looked so young.
They were healthier and stronger than other mice. They did not get cancer as often as their peers who were not treated in the same way.
This became clear when researchers approached aging in a new way: trying to uncover and manipulate the molecules associated with aging, says British broadcasting company BBC.
Already it has long been known that the aging of laboratory animals can be influenced to some extent. Experimental animals in the laboratory live longer if, for example, the amount of food they receive is properly reduced.
Now, a protein called interleukin-11 is being studied at the MRC medical laboratory at Imperial College London. The same molecule is also being studied in Singapore at the Duke–NUS School of Medicine.
The amount of interleukin-11 in the human body varies with aging. According to the researchers, the protein in question modifies several biological switches in the body that affect aging.
Mice were tampered with in London in such a way that their bodies were no longer able to produce interleukin-11.
Another group of mice was allowed to wait until the mice were 75 weeks old. It corresponds to a person’s age of about 55 years. Then the aged mice were regularly given a drug that removed interleukin-11 from the body.
Science journal Results published in Nature showed that the lifespan of mice living in the laboratory was increased by 20–25 percent. Elongation varied according to the nature of the experiment and the gender of the mouse.
In the laboratory, mice often die of cancer when they are old. But the mice that lacked interleukin-11 had much less cancer.
The muscles of those mice were in better condition. They were thinner and their fur was in better condition.
Now they have already begun to investigate whether tampering with the protein in question would work on humans.
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Interleukin-11 modifies several biological switches in the body that affect aging.
With interleukin-11 has a role in the early development of the human body.
Very rarely is a person born whose body does not produce the protein in question. In this case, the bones of the skull have not connected to each other in the normal way and the joints require surgery. Lack of protein also affects teeth and scarring.
In later life, interleukin-11 promotes aging.
in London now testing a drug and an antibody that attacks interleukin-11.
Patients with pulmonary fibrosis receive the drug. It is a lung disease that scars the lungs. As the disease progresses, the lung tissues become scarred and thickened, and breathing also becomes difficult.
One of the researchers is a professor Stuart Cook. He says that the tests have not been completed yet.
The information obtained from patients suggests that the drug would be safe. No side effects have occurred.
“Mice have been shown to have a treatment that potentially prolongs healthy aging,” says the professor Ilaria Bellantuono.
He studies the aging of the musculoskeletal system at the University of Sheffield in England.
If the medicine works, however, it is expensive to manufacture.
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