Category Archives: Anti-Aging Medicine

An anti-aging therapy could be one step closer; in a new study, researchers reveal how a peptide led to the destruction of cells that play a role in aging, reversing fur loss, kidney damage, and frailty in mice.

The research describes how the peptide stops levels of a protein called FOXO4 from increasing in senescent cells, which are cells that lose the ability to replicate and destroy themselves, but which remain metabolically active.

Senescent cells accumulate with age, and studies have shown that they can contribute to the aging process by causing damage to neighboring cells and impairing tissue function.

Previous research has shown that in senescent cells, levels of FOXO4 rise to prevent another protein called p53 from prompting the cells' self-destruction.

By blocking FOXO4 with the peptide, the research team has been able to restore programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in senescent cells.

"Only in senescent cells does this peptide cause cell death," says senior author Peter de Keizer, a researcher of aging at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

"FOXO4 is barely expressed in non-senescent cells, so that makes the peptide interesting, as the FOXO4-p53 interaction is especially relevant to those cells, but not normal cells."

On administering the peptide to fast-aging mice in regular doses, the researchers were able to reverse age-related conditions, such as fur loss and poor kidney health.

The findings were recently published in the journal Cell.

For their study, the researchers tested the peptide on older mice that had aged naturally and mice that had been genetically modified to age rapidly.

Both groups of mice developed characteristics and health problems commonly associated with aging, such as loss of fur, a decline in kidney health, and frailty.

Some of the rodents in each group were given infusions of the peptide three times a week for 10 months, while the remaining mice were monitored as controls.

Both the fast-aging and naturally aged mice saw improvements with peptide treatment, with no apparent side effects.

Within 10 days, the fast-aging mice began to experience fur regrowth. After 3 weeks, the naturally aged mice began to see improvements in fitness, compared with mice that did not receive the peptide.

Additionally, both the fast-aging and naturally aged mice started to demonstrate improvements in kidney function from 1 month after peptide treatment.

The team notes that the effects of peptide treatment were was so strong in fast-aging mice that doses needed to be reduced over the study period.

The researchers say that their findings support previous research showing that targeting senescent cells can help to reverse aging and increase lifespan, though much more research is warranted.

"The common thread I see for the future of anti-aging research is that there are three fronts in which we can improve: the prevention of cellular damage and senescence, safe therapeutic removal of senescent cells, to stimulate stem cells - no matter the strategy - to improve tissue regeneration once senescence is removed," says de Keizer.

He and his colleagues now plan to conduct a clinical trial to assess the safety of the peptide in humans.

Learn how exercise prevents cellular aging by increasing mitochondrial capacity.

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Anti-aging peptide recovers fur growth, kidney health in mice - Medical News Today

PureTech will take on the development of two mTORC1 inhibitors from Novartis aimed at stopping the decline of the immune system associated with age.

Novartis is building up the portfolio of PureTech is a Boston-based healthcare company listed on the London stock market. Originally an investment firm, it now has put together a drug pipeline from its biotech portfolio. Its latest additionsare twodrugs to prevent and treat diseases related toimmunosenescence, an age-related process that reduces the immune systems functions.

PureTech will create a subsidiary, resTORbio, to carry out the development, starting with a Phase IIb trial for age-related immune system deterioration. The US company has allocated 14M ($15M) for the program, giving it a 58% stake that could rise to 67% in the future with an additional 9M ($10M) investment.

For its part, Novartis will get an undisclosed equity stake in the company plus milestonepayments and royalties as the drug advances through development and commercialization. The big Swiss pharma has already run two Phase IIa studies in elderly patients with the two mTORC1 inhibitors.

The immune system progressively loses its function with age, leading to age-related disorders

Novartis already has an mTOR inhibitor in the market, Everolimus, used as an immunosuppressant for organ transplantation and certain forms of cancer. Preclinical research seemed to indicate that this drug could also extend the lifespan and boost the efficacy of vaccines, which led the company to start human trials.

However, despite the promising potential of the candidates, Novartis has decided to trust someone else with developmentand waitto see whether theyre successful in the long term.

The field ofanti-aging,focused on delaying and preventing age-related conditions, is still young and so far it mostly attracts innovative biotech companies rather than traditional pharma. But as medicine advances and the human lifespan increases, Im sure it will start gaining more and more recognition.

Images from Africa Studio /Shutterstock;Dorrington MG and Bowdish DME (2013)Front. Immunol. 4:171.

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Novartis puts the Development of two Anti-Aging Drugs in American Hands - Labiotech.eu (blog)

UNSW researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing, improves DNA repair and could even help NASA get its astronauts to Mars.

In a paper published in Science today, the team identifies a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA.

Their experiments in mice suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from ageing and radiation. It is so promising it has attracted the attention of NASA, which believes the treatment can help its Mars mission.

While our cells have an innate capability to repair DNA damage -- which happens every time we go out into the sun, for example -- their ability to do this declines as we age.

The scientists identified that the metabolite NAD+, which is naturally present in every cell of our body, has a key role as a regulator in protein-to-protein interactions that control DNA repair.

Treating mice with a NAD+ precursor, or "booster," called NMN improved their cells' ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

"The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice, after just one week of treatment," said lead author Professor David Sinclair of UNSW School of Medical Sciences and Harvard Medical School Boston.

Human trials of NMN therapy will begin within six months.

"This is the closest we are to a safe and effective anti-ageing drug that's perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market if the trials go well," says Sinclair, who maintains a lab at UNSW in Sydney.

What it means for astronauts, childhood cancer survivors, and the rest of us

The work has excited NASA, which is considering the challenge of keeping its astronauts healthy during a four-year mission to Mars.

Even on short missions, astronauts experience accelerated ageing from cosmic radiation, suffering from muscle weakness, memory loss and other symptoms when they return. On a trip to Mars, the situation would be far worse: five per cent of the astronauts' cells would die and their chances of cancer would approach 100 per cent.

Professor Sinclair and his UNSW colleague Dr Lindsay Wu were winners in NASA's iTech competition in December last year.

"We came in with a solution for a biological problem and it won the competition out of 300 entries," Dr Wu says.

Cosmic radiation is not only an issue for astronauts. We're all exposed to it aboard aircraft, with a London-Singapore-Melbourne flight roughly equivalent in radiation to a chest x-ray.

In theory, the same treatment could mitigate any effects of DNA damage for frequent flyers. The other group that could benefit from this work is survivors of childhood cancers.

Dr Wu says 96 per cent of childhood cancer survivors suffer a chronic illness by age 45, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancers unrelated to the original cancer.

"All of this adds up to the fact they have accelerated ageing, which is devastating," he says.

"It would be great to do something about that, and we believe we can with this molecule."

An anti-ageing pill could be on the horizon

For the past four years, Professor Sinclair and Dr Wu have been working on making NMN into a drug substance with their companies MetroBiotech NSW and MetroBiotech International.

The human trials will begin this year at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston.

The findings on NAD+ and NMN add momentum to the exciting work the UNSW Laboratory for Ageing Research has done over the past four years.

They've been looking at the interplay of a number of proteins and molecules and their roles in the ageing process.

They had already established that NAD+ could be useful for treating various diseases of ageing, female infertility and also treating side effects of chemotherapy.

In 2003, Professor Sinclair made a link between the anti-ageing enzyme SIRT1 and resveratrol, a naturally occurring molecule found in tiny quantities in red wine.

"While resveratrol activates SIRT1 alone, NAD+ boosters activate all seven sirtuins, SIRT1-7, and should have an even greater impact on health and longevity," he says.

Read more:
Scientists unveil a giant leap for anti-aging - Science Daily

BROOKHAVEN >> Slightly under two years ago, Dr. Jason Weigner, DC, opened Discover Optimal Healthcare at 3605 Edgemont Ave. to offer patients an alternative to the common separate health care system that, he said, is often extremely costly and ineffective.

Rather than expecting patients to manage their own care and go from facility to facility to visit a medical doctor, a chiropractor, a physical therapist and other health care professionals, all while treating the same injury or condition, Discover Optimal Healthcare offers all of the professionals under one roof for the patients welfare, convenience and to coordinate their entire care as a team. Weigner said that each health care professional is a vital part of the integrated health care team that works together to get a patient out of pain quickly and permanently, without resorting to surgery and other invasive methods.

Weigners state-of-the-art facility has more than 4,000 square feet of clinical office space and some of the most modern rehabilitation and diagnostic equipment. Services there include chiropractic care, regenerative and physical medicine, rehabilitation services, medical weight loss, anti-aging services, massage and acupuncture. Discover Optimal Healthcare treats a patient with individualized support in four progressive stages by relieving their pain, correcting the pains cause, strengthening the patients body and maintaining their wellness.

Discover Optimal Healthcare has a multi-specialized staff of 18, including Dr. Jason Weigner, DC; Dr. Mary Kashurba, MD; Barry Greenfield and Aubrey Brumanti, physicians assistants; Dr. Anthony Odell, DC; and Dr. Greg Parsons, DC.

According to Weigner, Discover Optimal Healthcare offers non-invasive yet aggressive treatment plans to restore and enhance physical functions and quality of life for all patients. The facility specializes in treating a wide variety of spinal and joint conditions including neck and back pain, headaches, knee and hip pain, sciatica and scoliosis, sports, auto and work injuries, neuropathy, whiplash, Fibromyalgia and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Discover Optimal Healthcare also offers a medical weight-loss program, hair restoration treatments and an anti-aging med spa with Botox and fillers.

Traditional medicine alone cannot compare with the combined knowledge, specialization and care offered by a team of doctors and medical professionals who collaborate and work together in physical and regenerative medicine, Weigner explained. We can get patients back to a pain-free life sooner and keep them healthier longer by fixing their underlying problems so they can start living fully again, rather than just treating their symptom.

As a pioneer in a new, cutting-edge treatment option, Weigner recently introduced stem cell therapy to his patients.

This new therapy option treats arthritis, nagging joint pain, neuropathy, back and neck pain, cartilage and muscle issues and a host of other conditions, repairing and regenerating joints all without the need for painful, invasive surgery, Weigner said excitedly. After even one stem cell treatment, many of our patients experience noticeable relief from the pain that had kept them from living their best life.

Weigner said stem cell therapy has about a 75 to 85 percent success rate if a patient is a candidate for this type of treatment.

The patients who have success with stem cell therapy love the fact that they regain their lives and get out of pain quickly without the risks of invasive surgery and the complications, anesthesia and intensive rehabilitation that come with going the traditional surgical route, Weigner explained.

Weigner said that stem cell regeneration therapy utilizes adult stem cells that are derived from fat and bone marrow harvested along with cryo-preserved umbilical cord stem cells as an additional option for some individuals. This is a non-controversial and non-harmful way to unleash the power of stem cells and gain additional growth factors, he said.

According to an explanation on Weigners website, Human body cells are constantly going through a regenerative and degenerative process. The regenerative cells are derived from stem cells. Stem cells possess the ability to duplicate into other cells. This means that if you have structural or degenerative damage in your knee, stem cells introduced to the area will join with the other knee cells to regenerate or rebuild the damaged area. These cells will streamline the healing process and help patients recover rapidly from serious injuries, without going under the knife. Stem cell therapy is a minimal pain (only the prick of a needle) and completely non-invasive alternative to regular surgery. Stem cell injections are placed in the area of need, using arthroscopic and ultrasound guided monitoring procedures to ensure that stem cells reach the area most in need of regeneration. Simple shots can begin to rebuild the area and return normal function, mobility and comfort levels to the patient.

Weigner said he believes that stem cell therapy is the future of medicine and can help cure everything from plantar fasciitis to deteriorating joints and can even stimulate hair growth. To answer questions and spread the word about stem cell therapy, Weigner offers free community education workshops. He advertises the events on the Discover Optimal Healthcare Facebook page, as well as in local newspapers.

Discover Optimal Healthcare, the winner of Best of Delco awards for three consecutive years, offers free consultations for any condition. Weigner said if his facility cannot help certain patients for various reasons, the team will immediately refer them somewhere else to get the help that they need. The staff at Discover Optimal Healthcare is warm and friendly, he said, and prides itself on treating everyone like family.

We have at over 40 different five-star reviews and testimonials on our website, Weigner said proudly. We treat everyone with respect and compassion, with the same care and motivation to helping them as if they were our family. Our patients tell me again and again what a great team we have here.

Weigner says that he cant help but be enthusiastic over how many patients he has helped with the newest brea-throughs in stem cell therapy.

At Discover Optimal Healthcare, we are pleased to bring hope to the hopeless by offering all of our patients an opportunity to take advantage of, what I think, is the most significant medical breakthrough in natural medicine in this decade, Weigner stated. Theres nothing better than helping patients with this new, alternative therapy to rediscover a life free of pain.

For more information on Discover Optimal Healthcare at 3605 Edgemont Ave., Brookhaven, stem cell therapy or to book a free consultation, call 610-876-6180 or visit http://www.dohealth.net

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Discover Optimal Healthcare in Brookhaven offers patients alternative to surgery - Delco News Network

March 23, 2017 Two fast-aging mice. The mouse on the left was treated with a FOXO4 peptide, which targets senescent cells and leads to hair regrowth in ten days. The mouse on the right was not treated with the peptide. Credit: Peter L.J. de Keizer

Regular infusions of a peptide that can selectively seek out and destroy broken-down cells that hamper proper tissue renewal, called senescent cells, showed evidence of improving healthspan in naturally-aged mice and mice genetically engineered to rapidly age. The proof-of-concept study, published March 23 in Cell, found that an anti-senescent cell therapy could reverse age-related loss of fur, poor kidney function, and frailty. It is currently being tested whether the approach also extends lifespan, and human safety studies are being planned.

The peptide took over four years of trial and error to develop and builds on nearly a decade of research investigating vulnerabilities in senescent cells as a therapeutic option to combat some aspects of aging (Trends in Molecular Medicine, 10.1016/j.molmed.2016.11.006). It works by blocking the ability of a protein implicated in senescence, FOXO4, to tell another protein, p53, not to cause the cell to self-destruct. By interfering with the FOXO4-p53 crosstalk, the peptide causes senescent cells to go through apoptosis, or cell suicide.

"Only in senescent cells does this peptide cause cell death," says senior author Peter de Keizer, a researcher of aging at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. "We treated mice for over 10 months, giving them infusions of the peptide three times a week, and we didn't see any obvious side effects. FOXO4 is barely expressed in non-senescent cells, so that makes the peptide interesting as the FOXO4-p53 interaction is especially relevant to senescent cells, but not normal cells."

Results appeared at different times over the course of treatment. Fast-aging mice with patches of missing fur began to recover their coats after 10 days. After about three weeks, fitness benefits began to show, with older mice running double the distance of their counterparts who did not receive the peptide. A month after treatment, aged mice showed an increase in markers indicating healthy kidney function.

Senescent cell therapy is one of several strategies being tested in mice aimed at reversing aging or lengthening healthspan. In 2015, the Valter Longo laboratory at the University of Southern California reported that mice on a calorie-restricted diet that mimics fasting benefited from a longer life, a reduction in inflammatory disease, and improved memory (Cell Metabolism, 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.05.012). And last December, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute of Biological Science and colleagues made headlines with their discovery that cellular reprogramming of epigenetic marks could extend lifespan and improve health in fast-aging mice (Cell, 10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.052).

"This wave of research on how we can fight aging is complementary, and not in competition," says de Keizer. "The common thread I see for the future of anti-aging research is that there are three fronts in which we can improve: The prevention of cellular damage and senescence, safe therapeutic removal of senescent cells, to stimulate stem cellsno matter the strategyto improve tissue regeneration once senescence is removed."

de Keizer aims to start a company based on these findings, but in the short term, he and his group want to show that their peptide is non-toxic in humans with no unforeseen side effects. They plan to offer a safety clinical trial in people with Glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor, which also shows high levels of the biomarkers needed for this FOXO4 peptide to be effective.

Explore further: Anti-aging therapies targeting senescent cells: Facts and fiction

More information: Cell, Baar et al.: "Targeted Apoptosis of Senescent Cells Restores Tissue Homeostasis in Response to Chemotoxicity and Aging" http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)30246-5 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.02.031

Sebastian Brandhorst et al. A Periodic Diet that Mimics Fasting Promotes Multi-System Regeneration, Enhanced Cognitive Performance, and Healthspan, Cell Metabolism (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.05.012

Alejandro Ocampo et al. In Vivo Amelioration of Age-Associated Hallmarks by Partial Reprogramming, Cell (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.052

Journal reference: Cell Cell Metabolism

Provided by: Cell Press

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Peptide targeting senescent cells restores stamina, fur, and kidney function in old mice - Medical Xpress

Dr Lindsay Wu is a researcher and is taking anti-ageing pills. Pix of Dr Wu in his research lab. Pic Stephen Cooper

AUSTRALIAN scientists have discovered a vitamin, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), that helps cells repair DNA damage and its so good they are taking the pill themselves.

The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice, after just one week of treatment, said Professor David Sinclair of UNSW School of Medical Sciences and Harvard Medical School Boston.

The study showed middle-aged mice given the vitamin lived 20 per cent longer and were able to run faster.

This is the closest we are to a safe and effective anti-ageing drug thats perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market if the trials go well, says joint researcher Dr Lindsay Wu from the University NSW.

Sydney businesswoman Kate Johnson, 34, runs a natural lip gloss company and said she is keen to try the anti-ageing product when it hits the market.

Im only in my early 30s myself but I would look at something like that in the future, she said.

I know certain facets of the market would think its not natural and say you should age gracefully and Im a huge believer in ageing gracefully, but at the same time you shouldnt apologise for doing something that makes you feel happy or healthy.

This sounds like a drug that will be revolutionary for women who are fickle about ageing and want to load up on drugs to fight it. And (it will be used by) other women who just want another product, just like cleansing their face in the morning.

Dr Wu, aged 33, is not old, but says he has been taking the vitamin pill for a year.

I am using it, Im not supposed to take it but I feel just fine, there are no side-effects, he said.

I take it out of intellectual curiosity.

In a paper published in Science today, the researchers identify a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA.

Research by University NSW scientists Prof Sinclair and Dr Wu into the substance won NASAs iTech competition in December last year because of its potential use in the planned 2025 mission to Mars.

Accelerated ageing caused by cosmic radiation, mental impairment and increased risk of cancer are pitfalls of space travel.

On a trip to Mars five per cent of the astronauts cells will die affecting their mental and physical capacity.

Its hoped this vitamin might be able to reverse that damage says Dr Wu.

Back on earth the medicine promises to help every human defy the ageing process and stay healthy and it has potential to overcome the terrible side effects of cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Its also been found to treat Type 2 diabetes and restore vision following eye damage in animals.

A separate Japanese study showed mice given NMN gained less weight with ageing even when they consumed more food perhaps because their boosted metabolism used more energy.

However, he said the general population should not use it until it has been property tested in clinical trials.

And when clinical trials are complete it wont be on the market to treat ageing, instead it is likely to be used as a therapy to treat the side effects of cancer radiotherapy.

The big problem is that regulatory authorities dont recognise ageing as a disease even though you lose memory, you lose movement and it gives you cancer, he says.

To get approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and Australias Therapeutic Goods Administration NMN will have to be registered to treat a recognised disease like the side effects of radiation.

Things could be about to change though. A US trial is underway to test whether the diabetes drug metformin can extend human life and prevent cancer because of evidence it expands lifespan in animals.

The makers of Metformin will be the first to push the FDA to recognise ageing, change is in the air, says Dr Wu.

The discovery of the vitamin developed out of research into the famed life extending qualities of the molecule resveratrol found in red wine.

HOW IT WORKS

NMN works on the same biological pathway as resveratrol.

Every time we go out into the sun our DNA is damaged but our body repairs the damage, however as we age our bodys ability to do the repairs declines, Dr Wu explains.

A vitamin Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) present in every cell boosts the bodys ability to repair cells but it declines by 60 per cent as we age or when we are exposed to radiation.

If you can boost NAD+ you can boost DNA repair, he says.

The research found that if you treated mice with a NAD+ precursor, or booster, called NMN it improved their cells ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

Read the rest here:
Revolutionary anti-ageing drug makes you look younger and live longer - Perth Now