Modification of rapamycin – a step towards creating a "pill for old age"?
Novartis is testing an experimental mTOR inhibitor
Nanonews Network based on HealthDay Materials: Researchers Take 'First Baby Step' Toward Anti-Aging DrugScientists may have come close to creating a "source of eternal youth" – a drug that can delay aging and improve the health of older people.
An experimental drug developed by Novartis pharmaceutical company, the target of which is a genetic pathway associated with aging and immunity, significantly enhances the immune response to vaccination in people over 65 years of age.
An experimental drug, a modification of the therapeutic drug rapamycin, which has the properties of an immunosuppressor and is used in transplantology to prevent organ rejection, increased the immune response to the flu vaccine in elderly people by 20 percent, according to the latest issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (Mannick et al., mTOR inhibition improves immune function in the elderly).
This study can be called a "watershed" in the study of the impact of the aging process on health, says Nir Barzilai, MD, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, enthusiastically commenting on its results. According to him, this is one of the first studies showing that mTOR inhibitors can delay aging and the human body.
"It marks the beginning of the use of this drug to influence aging, to improve everything related to aging," says Barzilai, who did not participate in this project. "For us, this will really be a turning point in research, and we are very excited."
Rapamycin (Photo: bioquicknews.com )
Rapamycin belongs to a class of drugs known as mTOR inhibitors, which have been shown to counteract aging and the development of age-related diseases in mice and other animals. The mTOR molecular pathway ensures healthy growth in youth. But it appears to have a negative effect on mammals as they get older. When drugs such as rapamycin are used to inhibit the effects of the mTOR pathway in mice, they "appear to increase life expectancy and delay the onset of age-related diseases," explains the focus of the action of this class of drugs, study lead author Joan Mannick, MD, from the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research (Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research).
Dr. Mannick and her colleagues decided to find out whether drugs like rapamycin can reverse the natural weakening of the immune system functions in the elderly.
In clinical trials, more than 200 people aged 65 and older received either an experimental drug or a placebo for several weeks, and then were vaccinated against influenza.
The flu is particularly severe in the elderly, and in the United States, people aged 65 and older account for nine out of ten flu-related deaths.
As the researchers found, in people who received the experimental version of rapamycin, the number of antibodies produced in response to the introduction of the influenza vaccine was 20 percent higher than in the control group who received a placebo. Even low doses of this drug enhanced the immune response. In addition, in the group receiving the drug, there were generally fewer white blood cells associated with an age-related decrease in the functions of the immune system.
Dr. Mannick called this study "the first step of a child" and is not yet inclined to discuss whether it can lead to the development of immunostimulating drugs for the elderly.
"Before considering that mTOR inhibitors can be used to treat age-related diseases, it is necessary to establish a risk-benefit ratio in clinical trials. This is very important," she emphasizes.
Dr. Barzilai is more optimistic. In his opinion, a study like this could revolutionize the treatment of age-related diseases.
"Aging is the main risk factor for the killers we fear," he says, noting that the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other deadly diseases increases as we age. "If aging is the main risk, the way to prolong a person's life and improve their health is to delay aging."
Until science focuses on aging as such, "we will simply change one disease for another," the scientist believes. For example, a person receiving cholesterol-lowering drugs can prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases, but instead they are likely to become a victim of cancer or Alzheimer's disease.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru29.12.2014