A quantum leap in human lifespans is possible with the discovery that switching off a type of protein can reduce the inflammation that causes many deaths.
Scientists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science and Imperial College London found that using drugs to switch off a protein called IL-11 could increase the healthy lifespan of mice by almost 25 percent.
The results, published in Nature, were described as dramatic, with mice given the drug from 75 weeks of age until death having their median lifespan extended by 22.4 percent in males and 25 percent in females .
In equivalent terms, 75 mouse weeks is the equivalent of 55 years in humans.
“The treatment largely reduced deaths from cancer in the animals, as well as reducing the many diseases caused by fibrosis, chronic inflammation and poor metabolism, which are hallmarks of ageing,” the study report said.
“There were very few side effects observed.”
Study lead Professor Stuart Cook said the findings were exciting.
“Previously proposed life-extending drugs and treatments have either had poor side-effect profiles, or don’t work in both sexes, or could extend life, but not healthy life, however this does not appear to be the case for IL-11,” he said.
“While these findings are only in mice, it raises the tantalising possibility that the drugs could have a similar effect in elderly humans.”
Anti-IL-11 treatments are currently in human clinical trials for other conditions, potentially providing opportunities for human trials for anti-aging impacts in the future.
Professor Cook and his team had been investigating IL-11 for many years and in 2018 they were the first to show that IL-11 was a pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory protein, overturning years of incorrect characterisation as anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory.
“Previously, scientists have posited that IL-11 is an evolutionary hangover in humans, as while it is vital for limb regeneration in some animal species, it is thought to be largely redundant in humans,” the study report said.
“However, after about the age of 55 in humans, more IL-11 is produced and past research has linked this to chronic inflammation, fibrosis in organs, disorders of metabolism, muscle wasting (sarcopaenia), frailty, and cardiac fibrosis. These conditions are many of the signs we associate with ageing.”
The full report can be found on the researchers’ website.
