Anti-aging breakthrough brings dreams of longer human life spans
Published: August 26, 2005
Scientists have identified a hormone that significantly extends the life span of mice, a crucial discovery that could mark a step toward developing drugs that boost humans’ longevity.
The hormone is the first substance identified that is produced naturally in mammals, including humans, and can extend life span.
Much more work is needed to study the substance and investigate whether the hormone or a similar compound would be effective and safe in people, experts cautioned.
But the discovery opens highly promising avenues for research and provides tantalizing new clues toward deciphering the basic biology of aging.
“This is a significant discovery. It’s an exciting paper,” said Anna McCormick of the National Institute on Aging, which helped finance the new research, published online Thursday by the journal Science.
“It’s definitely the way you would go about designing molecules that would promote healthy aging and longevity in people.”
Makoto Kuro-o of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas led the research.
The discovery was triggered by a study Kuro-o and his colleagues published in 1997, which identified a gene in mice that, when damaged, caused the animals to experience all the hallmarks of aging in humans — hardening of the arteries, thinning bones, withered skin, weak lungs — and to die prematurely.
They dubbed the gene Klotho for the Greek goddess who spins the thread of life.
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