What if we could flip a switch in our bodies that would cause us to live longer — even healthier — lives?
It sounds like science fiction. However, scientists have done exactly that in mice, with the result being as much as a 25% increase in lifespan.
Breakthroughs like this usually come with all sorts of bad side effects. However, the results in these mice show fewer cancers and typical signs of aging and frailty.
Medical News Today reports on this incredible research from scientists in the UK and Singapore. Here’s the start of the story:
The scientific community has long been interested in understanding and extending human life.
In a new piece of research published in Nature, researchers at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science and Imperial College London, in collaboration with Duke-NUS Medical School, administered an anti-IL-11 antibody — a drug that inhibits IL-11’s effects — to mice that were 75 weeks old, comparable to about 55 years in humans.
The results were significant: mice treated with the anti-IL-11 drug from 75 weeks of age until their death showed a median lifespan extension of 22.5% in males and 25% in females, living an average of 155 weeks compared to 120 weeks in untreated mice.
In addition, the treatment significantly decreased cancer-related deaths in the animals and also reduced various diseases associated with fibrosis, chronic inflammation, and poor metabolism, which are typical of aging.
Importantly, only minimal side effects were observed.