New Class Of Drugs Dramatically Slows The Aging Process

A new class of drugs called senolytics have recently been invented and found to dramatically slow the aging process in mice.

Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota are hoping that the new medicine could potentially one day work in humans. The findings are published in the journal Aging Cell.

The study authors first identified the new class of drugs by targeting and killing senescent cells, which are related to aging, without even doing any kind of damage to other nearby cells.

So far, the class of drugs is doing some incredible things. They've found that it can actually improve cardiac function and reduce the symptoms of frailty in mice.

As we age, senescent cells fail to keep dividing. The longer this goes on, they fail to divide in the body and start accumulating, secreting dangerous proteins that cause damage to otherwise healthy tissue and cells that contribute to the aging process and illness, over time.

Prior to this, researchers did not know a way to kill the senescent cells without harming surrounding ones. For the study, they tested 46 drugs on human senescent cells and found that two drugs showed promise: an antihistamine supplement called quercetin and a cancer drug called dasatinib. Then, they discovered that when they were used together, the two induced the cell death in senescent cells.

The combination treatment was then tested in mice, and researchers found that senolytic drugs boosted exercise endured and reduced osteoporosis as well as improved cardiovascular function.

However, future studies will be needed to determine the safety of the drugs in humans.