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Research explains action of drug that may slow aging, related disease

Life Science Weekly


By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Life Science Weekly -- Dietary restriction is one of the most-researched methods for slowing the aging process. Now, a new article published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences helps explain the action of a drug that appears to mimic that method - rapamycin (see also Proinsulin).


However, this medication has some drawbacks, including an increase in insulin resistance that could set the stage for diabetes. The new findings help to explain why that happens, and what could be done to address it.


"This could be an important advance if it helps us find a way to gain the apparent benefits of rapamycin without increasing insulin resistance," said Viviana Perez, PhD, an author on the new article and an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Oregon State University College of Science.




Rapamycin, first discovered from the soils of Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, in the South Pacific Ocean, is primarily used as an immunosuppressant to prevent rejection of organs and tissues. In recent years it was also observed that it can function as a metabolic "signaler" that inhibits a biological pathway found in almost all higher life forms - the ability to sense when food has been eaten, energy is available, and conditions are favorable for cell proliferation, protein synthesis, and growth to proceed.

Called mTOR in mammals, for the term "mammalian target of rapamycin," this pathway has a critical evolutionary value - it helps an organism avoid too much cellular expansion and growth when energy supplies are insufficient. That helps explain why some form of the pathway has been conserved across such a multitude of species, from yeast to fish to humans.

"Dietary restriction is one of the few interventions that inhibits this mTOR pathway," Perez said. "And a restricted diet in laboratory animals has been shown to increase their lifespan about 25 to 30 percent. Human groups who eat fewer calories, such as some Asian cultures, also live longer."







Keywords for this news article include: Proinsulin, Peptide Hormones, The Gerontological Society of America.

