And these drugs are already on the market
Remember the movie "The Curious Story of Benjamin Button"? Well, he's not such a fiction. New research shows that people can change their epigenetic clock, which measures biological age, with three drugs already on the market, according to Inverse.
Greg Fahy, Ph. D., lead author of the study and chief scientist at anti-aging therapy company Intervene Immune, said this study supports the concept that biological aging can be reversed.
Unlike chronological age - the number of years that a person has lived, biological age is the real state of his body. This is measured by looking at epigenetic markers, which indicate chemical changes in DNA over time. One such marker is the addition of methyl groups to DNA, a process called methylation.
Geneticist Steve Horvath of the University of California, Los Angeles is an innovator in the study of epigenetic clocks and has developed some of the most accurate methods for determining biological age. But his new study was originally supposed to find out whether growth hormone can be safely used to repair thymic tissue in humans.
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The thymus, or thymus gland, which is located in the upper part of the rib cage behind the breastbone, is critical for the immune system to function effectively. White blood cells are produced in the bone marrow and then mature in the thymus, where they become T-lymphocytes, which help the body fight infection and cancer.
The size of the thymus in childhood is maximum, but after the onset of puberty at the age of 12-13, it atrophies. As we age, the thymus decreases even more in size and in old age is hardly distinguishable from the surrounding adipose tissue (this "degradation" is associated with a decrease in immunity in the elderly).
Data from animal studies and some clinical studies have shown that growth hormone stimulates thymus regeneration. However, this hormone can also contribute to the development of diabetes. Therefore, two well-known antidiabetic drugs were added to it - metformin and dehydroepiandrosterone.
A third drug, DHEA, was included because of Fahy's theory. Young people have higher levels of growth hormone without higher levels of insulin - and Fahi believes this is due to their higher levels of DHEA.
The specialists regularly took blood samples from the participants for analysis. As a result, the researchers noticed a similar effect in all men: rejuvenating the immune system. This conclusion was made because the number of cells in the blood of the participants increased, for the production of which the thymus is responsible (the same indicator that decreases with age).
At the beginning and end of the trial, the team performed MRI scans of the thymus of the volunteers. It turned out that in seven out of nine participants, the accumulated fat was "replaced" by the regenerated tissue of the thymus gland. Fahi also asked Horvath to check if the participants' epigenetic clock changed.
Steve Horvath used four different tests to assess the biological age of the volunteers and found significant changes in each of them. It turned out that the volunteers were 2.5 years younger by biological markers. In addition, the effect was long-term.
Researchers are already testing metformin for its ability to protect against common age-related diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Fahy says the three drugs in the cocktail may separately influence biological aging through unique mechanisms. Intervene Immune is planning a larger study, which will include people of different age and ethnic groups, as well as women.
According to him, regeneration of the thymus gland may be beneficial for people with weakened immune systems, including the elderly. Pneumonia and other infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in people over 70.
Do you believe aging can be reversed?
Author: Fia Mont