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Scientists discover cure for human aging. People would be able to age for decades while maintaining vitality. Medicine works through immune system. Article posted December 19, 2010
December 19, 2010: Source: UCSF
Researchers at the University of Baltimore Yahoo (UCSF) claim to have found a way to the aging process of people to slow down. The drug would be found thus affect the renewal of cells from the immune system that humans are able to age for decades and most importantly their vitality remains. The full study report can be viewed when you click here . On that page is a PDF file to download or open. Below the abstract and as it was announced via Twitter.
Enhanced suppressive function of regulatory T cells from Patients with immune-mediated diseases following successful ex vivo expansion ", From Tinghua Cao, Sally E. Wenzel, William A. Faubion, Gregory Harriman and Li Li.
UCSF researchers have Identified An existing Medication That restores key elements of the immune system That, When out of balance, lead to a steady decline in immunity and health as people age.
The team found That Extremely low doses of the drug lenalidomide can-stimulation the body's immune-cell protein factories, Which Decrease production constantly aging, and rebalance the levels of Several key cytokines - immune proteins That Either attack viruses and bacteria or cause inflammation That leads to an overall decline in health.
The initial study, Which was designed to define the dose range of Such A therapy in a group of 13 patients, could-lead to a daily pill to boost immunity in the elderly, the researchers said. Data Will Appear in the January issue of the journal Clinical Immunology, and can-be found online at www.elsevier.com / locate / yclim .
The identification of a drug to reverse the decline in immuno-logical aging, Known as immunosenescence, is the Culmination of Years of research by Edward J. Goetzl, MD, at UCSF and the National Institute on Aging, write how cytokine levels change as people age, how That Varies by Gender, and Which changes dictate whethere Someone Will Be healthy Writing Their 90s or start a downward cycle of decline starting in the middle age.
"No one's really talking about longevity and life span now, but about 'health span,'" said Goetzl, UCSF's director of Allergy and Immunology Research, Which focuses on Developing new diagnostics and treatments for Allergic and Immunological diseases.
"If, at age 50, your cytokine levels are the Same as They Were at 25, you'll Probably stay healthy as you age," he said. "But if they're heading downhill, we need to do something about it. If You Could take a low dosage pill with no side effects, Would you do it? "
In 2009, Goetzl had studied a group of 50 elderly adults through the National Institute on Aging, Examining Their levels of key cytokines - interleukin (IL) -2, IFN-gamma and IL-17 - and discovered That Truly healthy 70-80 year old women had the Same as Those levels of healthy 20 year olds did.
However, some frail elderly people and women who showed Increased levels of inflammatory diseases and weakened defenses against infections tended to have lower levels of the first two cytokines, Which are protective, and higher levels of inflammatory cytokines. That imbalance, the researchers found, committed in late middle age.
They then set out to find a Drug That Could Raise IL-2 and IFN-gamma and Either have no effect on IL-17 or lower it.
"We now have a profile - in humans - That We Could take to test tubes to say, 'Does this have a drug effect Desirable?" Goetzl said. "Our job was to find a therapy Thats not only works, but does so at a dose range with no side effects."
The team focused on three classes of drugs, among themself That includes the one lenalidomide - a derivative of thalidomide - which report is under going a renaissance, Goetzl said.
First Introduced in the late 1950s as a sedative, thalidomide was never approved in the United States, but was with drawn from the world market in 1961 after Causing severe birth defects in infants Whose Mothers drug to reducing the firing constantly pregnancy nausea.
In recent years, however, lenalidomide Has Been found to be an effective co-therapy for some cancers, multiple myeloma and kidney tumors Particularly, as well as leprosy, at doses of 5 mg to 20 mg per day. Those cancers are tied to a drop in IL-2, the main cytokine That Goetzl's team was linked to declines in aging immune systems.
In this study, the team Tested the drug in healthy seniors, Each of Whom Were matched in race, gender and national origin to a healthy young adult participant. They found That Extremely low levels of lenalidomide - 0.1 mm - optimally stimulated IL-2 production in the young people (21-40 years) Roughly sevenfold, but stimulated IL-2 production in patient age 65 by 120-fold, Restoring Them to youthful levels for up to five days. That ate dosage, the drug Also Increased IFN-gamma up to six fold in the elderly patient, without suppressing IL-17 generation.
Also the researchers found That Other lenalidomide had many beneficial effects on the elderly participant 'T cells, include migration throughout the body better, more efficient patrol assessment activity and longer survival after defending the body against an infection.
The team plans to begin larger-scale clinical trials in 2011 to test the drug's effectiveness and hopes for Broader availability within-a few years.
The research was supported by a grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The first author on the paper's May-Chuan Huang, who, alongwith Goetzl and co-author Janice B. Schwartz, is from the UCSF departments of Microbiology, Immunology and of Medicine. Co-authors are Nigel Greig, Weiming Luo, David Tweedie, Dan Longo, Luigi Ferrucci and William B. Ershler, all from the National Institute on Aging, or the National Institutes of Health, in Baltimore.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to Promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.
