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Is this the anti-ageing elixir we've all been waiting for? Scientists reveal whether it could REALLY slow human aging too - as 'supermodel granny' drug that extends lifespan of mice by 25% is created
Drugs that allow humans to live longer might sound like the stuff of utopian science fiction.
However, the recent discovery of a drug which can extend the lifespan of mice by 25 per cent has once again raised hopes of discovering a real-life anti-ageing elixir.
An international team of researchers found that by inhibiting an inflammatory protein called IL-11, mice stayed healthier for longer in their old age.
Scientists say this promising treatment is already being tested in humans for other age-related conditions, but warn it is too early to know whether it will be safe in the long-term.
Dr Cathy Slack, an expert in the biology of ageing from the University of Warwick, told MailOnline: 'The functions of IL-11 in mice and humans are very similar so the possibility that the treatment will work in the same way is exciting.'
Drugs that allow humans to live longer might sound like the stuff of utopian science fiction. However, the recent discovery of a drug which can extend the lifespan of mice by 25 per cent has once again raised hopes of discovering a real-life anti-ageing elixir
As our bodies get older, we accumulate more damaged proteins and chemicals, which our immune systems can mistake for an infection.
This causes our bodies to overreact to the natural signs of ageing and produce inflammation, which can have damaging long-term effects on our health.
Inflammation is linked to cancer, fibrosis, and many of the other diseases that we associate with getting older.
While testing a method to detect IL-11, researchers from the UK's Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science (MRC LMS) discovered that older mice had significantly higher levels of this protein.
Back in 2016, they had already found that IL-11 was responsible for triggering the immune cells and 'fibroblasts' that cause the inflammatory response.
This gave the team their first hint that levels of IL-11 might have a significant role in producing the negative effects of ageing.
Researchers have discovered a potential anti-ageing elixir which extended the life of mice (pictured) by 25 per cent in lab tests
The Office for National Statistics predicts the life expectancy of men born in 2070 in the UK will reach the age of 85 on average, while women will be nearly 88 when they die. However, researchers hope that this could be extended further with a series of new anti-ageing drugs
To test this theory further, scientists deactivated the gene that produces the IL-11 protein in mice to see if they would live longer.
They found that those mice who had the gene degraded lived for 25 per cent longer than those that hadn't.
In a second experiment, lead researcher Professor Stuart Cook, of the Duke–National University of Singapore, and his team developed an antibody which removed the IL-11 protein in mice that still had the gene.
Professor Cook injected 37 mice with the antibodies, giving them one dose every three weeks from when they turned 75 weeks old - equivalent to 55 years-old in humans.
Compared to the 38 mice that didn't receive the treatment, those receiving IL-11 antibodies lived more than 20 per cent longer.
Critically, the mice didn't just live longer but also stayed healthier for longer - a measure known as healthspan.
The 75-week-old animals, equivalent to a 55-year-old human, that received the drug (right) lived for an average of 155 weeks, compared to the 120 weeks of those not treated (left)
Professor Cook says: 'The treated mice had fewer cancers, and were free from the usual signs of ageing and frailty, but we also saw reduced muscle wasting and improvement in muscle strength.
'In other words, the old mice receiving anti-IL11 were healthier.'
These results raise the tantalising possibility that IL-11 treatment could be used as a 'cure for ageing' in humans.
In their paper, published in Nature, the researchers write: 'Our data suggest that anti-IL-11 therapy ... is a potentially translatable approach for extending human healthspan and lifespan.'
Professor Cook adds: 'Our aim is that one day, anti-IL-11 therapy will be used as widely as possible, so that people the world over can lead healthier lives for longer.'
Mice were injected with antibodies designed to inhibit the production of a protein called IL-11. Those that received the treatment (right of both pictures) showed lower risks of cancer, reduced grey hair, and improved vision compared to those that did not (left)
However, experts warn it is not yet clear whether long-term use of IL-11 inhibition would have any negative impacts on human health.
There are a few other potential treatments currently under investigation for their anti-ageing properties but very few can extend healthspan as well as lifespan.
The drug Rapamycin, for example, works by blocking the actions of a protein that regulates cell growth and breakdown.
Studies have suggested it has a potential anti-ageing effect but it also produces a number of side effects that could reduce someone's overall health.
Dr Slack adds: 'The effects of IL-11 inhibition on lifespan in mice reported in the study are similar to those observed with rapamycin.
'But there are concerns that drugs like rapamycin may have detrimental effects on health in the long term - because they are not targeted to specific cells or tissues in the body.'
Famous eccentric biohacker Bryan Johnson (pictured) takes an anti-ageing drug called rapamycin, but there are concerns that this compound might have severe impacts on human health
The researchers believe that their IL-11 inhibition treatment will have less severe side effects than rapamycin (pictured)
However, the researchers maintain that deactivating LI-11 is unlikely to lead to further complications because the protein does not have any beneficial functions.
In a video, lead researcher Professor Stuart Cook explains: 'This is something we have inherited in an evolution from fish and it does good things in the fish.
'Unfortunately for us, it is an evolutionary hangover that causes harm and it causes disease.'
The study maintains that IL-11 inhibition has a 'reassuring safety profile and is currently in early-stage clinical trials for fibroinflammatory diseases.'
Dr Slack further notes that the antibody treatment could be refined to be more targeted and so become even safer.
However, as is so often the case in medical research, it may still be too early to know if this treatment could really work for humans.
'It's too early to tell from this study but the initial results reported in human cells are promising,' Dr Slacks says.
She adds: 'Clinical trials for human lifespan are almost impossible - they would take too long and be far too expensive.
'Instead, trials to determine the effects of IL-11 inhibition on age-related health would be much more likely.'