The mechanism of metformin
Metformin slowed down the aging of human cells
Anna Kerman, XX2 century, based on the materials of Asian Scientist Newsroom: How Metformin Might Slow Down Aging In Humans
The authors of a new study published in the journal Aging Cell have shown that the antidiabetic drug metformin is able to increase the life expectancy of human cells in vitro.
Metformin has been used for more than 60 years in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. It reduces the intensity of glucose production in the liver and increases the sensitivity of cellular receptors to insulin and improves the utilization of glucose by cells. Relatively recently, studies have appeared proving that metformin also increases the life expectancy of some experimental animals. However, it is still unknown whether the drug is capable of slowing down the aging process in human cells; the mechanisms that hypothetically may underlie this effect are also unclear.
The new study was led by Professors Wang Chihchen and Liu Guang‐Hui from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Scientists were able to demonstrate that prolonged administration of small doses of metformin into cell culture slows down the aging of cells, especially diploid fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells.
Previous work by the same group showed that a protein called "glutathione peroxidase-7 of the endoplasmic reticulum" (GPx7) plays a key role in regulating the processes of protein stacking and maintaining redox homeostasis. Now, researchers have found that small doses of metformin increase the production of GPx7 by activating the transcription factor Nrf2.
The concentration of GPx7 decreases with the "decrepitude" of the cell, and an artificial decrease in the amount of GPx7 accelerates the processes of cellular aging, the researchers say. It is also interesting that the chain "metformin – Nrf2 – GPx7" plays a certain role in the aging process of worms, and the human GPx7 analog available in the worms' body is necessary for metformin to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of animals.
These results together emphasize the importance of the Nrf2 – GPx7 signaling pathway for longevity and indicate the need to search for additional evidence that metformin may be useful as a means of increasing life expectancy in humans.
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