It seems like everyone is trying to live forever – or at least not have their last years plagued by disease and mobility issues. Granted, I’ve written countless articles of what lifestyle habits you can adopt to ensure your longevity, but what if there was a simpler way? London researchers may have uncovered a longevity drug that could add a quarter of a century to your life.
A New Anti-Aging Longevity Drug
IL-11 is a protein found in the body that has been a source of interest for investigators for many years.
In 2017, Assistant Professor Anissa Widjaja received tissue samples and discovered that levels of IL-11 increase with age. It was higher in older mice than younger ones, and that the protein is pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory.
With increased levels of IL-11, as we age, comes the increased risk for age-related disorders. These include chronic inflammation, fibrosis in organs, metabolic disorders, multimorbidities, sarcopenia, and frailty. Thus, if we want to combat aging, then we’ll need a drug that can combat the levels of IL-11.
The study
A group of scientists from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science and Imperial College London set out to better understand the relationship between IL-11 and healthy lifespan in mice,
“The IL-11 gene activity increases in all tissues in the mouse with age. When it gets turned on, it causes multimorbidity, which is diseases of aging and loss of function across the whole body, ranging from eyesight to hearing, from muscle to hair, and from the pump function of the heart to the kidneys.” says Professor Stuart Cook. Cook is a professor at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science (MRC LMS), Imperial College London, and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.
With that, the team administered treatment to a group of mice that essentially removed I1-LL from their bodies and experienced a significantly extended lifespan. P Additionally, the team treated 75-week-old-mice (55 in human years) with an anti-IL-11 antibody, and found that they not only lived 25 percent longer than their counterparts, but also experienced improvements in their health,
“The treated mice had fewer cancers, and were free from the usual signs of aging and frailty, but we also saw reduced muscle wasting and improvement in muscle strength.”
Could this work in humans?
As mentioned, the levels of IL-11 increase as we age, and this raises the risk for many age-related conditions like chronic inflammation and metabolic disorders. So, the study’s results suggest that we should look into combatting the levels of IL-11 in humans as well, right?
“While these findings are only in mice, it raises the tantalizing possibility that the drugs could have a similar effect in elderly humans,” says Cook, who adds that anti-IL-11 treatments are currently in human clinical trials for other conditions.
With that, it’s important to remember that the study was done in mice. Thus, the safety, and effectiveness, of anti-IL-11 drugs in humans still needs to be properly determined before touting anti-IL-11 medications as longevity drugs.
What other anti-aging longevity drug exists?
Yes. With the field of longevity expanding, so is the demand for anti-aging drugs. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that many of these longevity drugs may already be available from pharmacies. Read more about the following drugs that may boost your healthspan:
References
Massey, N. (2024). ‘Supermodel granny’ drug could be secret to longer-life, scientists say. [online]. The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/il11-longer-life-drug-mice-b2581494.html [Accessed 22 Jul. 2024].
Widjaja, A. A., Lim, W., Viswanathan, S., Chothani, S., Corden, B., Dasan, C. M., Goh, J. W., Lim, R., Singh, B. K., Tan, J., Pua, C. J., Lim, S. Y., Adami, E., Schafer, S., George, B. L., Sweeney, M., Xie, C., Tripathi, M., Sims, N. A., . . . Cook, S. A. (2024). Inhibition of IL-11 signalling extends mammalian healthspan and lifespan. Nature, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07701-9
