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Purging old cells extends lifespan

Author
Master
Date
2016-03-09 07:44
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67218

IT’S an extreme take on detox.
Clearing out old cells helps mice live longer, and seems to stave off a multitude of age-related diseases.
When cells wear out, they don’t always die. Sometimes they hang around, pumping out damaging compounds. Get rid of these cells and a host of benefits ensue, suggest mouse studies by Darren Baker and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
By tagging the cells with a “suicide gene”, the team were able to wipe them out in the animals.
The treated mice lived around 25 per cent longer than untreated mice, on average. “That’s the equivalent of extending human life from 80 to 100 years,” says Baker. What’s more, the mice were less ravaged by age.
After six months of twice-weekly treatment, their hearts were healthier and they were better at recovering from stress. Their kidneys had less age-related scarring, and they didn’t develop cataracts or cancer until later in life, compared with untreated mice. They even looked younger, because they didn’t show the same fat loss as untreated mice (Nature, doi.org/bcb2).
The race is now on to find drugs that clear these cells in people. “A few years ago, I would have said we were a long way off,” says Baker. “But we’ve been working with a company and it’s easier than we thought.”

Source : New Scientist, February 2016



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