Anti-inflammatory drug extended the lifespan of mice by 20 per cent
A drug that inhibits inflammation helped mice live longer and reduced the animals’ incidence of cancer and age-related health problems
By Grace Wade
17 July 2024
An inflammatory molecule (in green) is visible in liver tissue from an older mouse
Anissa A. Widjaja et al. 2024
Blocking an inflammatory molecule known as interleukin-11 (IL-11) extends the lifespan of mice, suggesting that drugs inhibiting IL-11 may have anti-ageing effects in people, too.
As we get older, our cells accumulate damage, triggering the immune system to spew out inflammatory molecules like IL-11. While small doses of inflammation can protect us from disease or injury, excessive amounts damage cells, which is believed to accelerate ageing.
“It is like pouring petrol onto a fire,” says Stuart Cook at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Stifling inflammation could, therefore, slow age-related declines in health.
Advertisement
New anti-ageing vaccines promise to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's
It may soon be possible to vaccinate ourselves against the diseases of old age, keeping our body and brain healthier for longer
To test this idea, Cook and his colleagues injected 37 mice with a drug that uses antibodies to block IL-11. The mice received an injection every three weeks starting at 75 weeks of age – comparable to about 55 years old in humans – until they died. A separate group of 38 mice received a different antibody therapy that didn’t target IL-11.
The researchers found that blocking IL-11 extended the lifespan of both male and female mice by more than 20 per cent. In further experiments, animals treated with the anti-IL-11 therapy were less likely to develop cancer: less than 16 per cent of the treated rodents had tumours, compared with more than 60 per cent of those in the control group.
