Breakthrough raises hope for anti-ageing drug
5 Apr 2017 by Evoluted New Media
Scientists have identified part of a molecular process that enables cells to repair DNA damage, raising hopes of a drug that reverses ageing or enables astronauts to travel to Mars.
Scientists have identified part of a molecular process that enables cells to repair DNA damage, raising hopes of a drug that reverses ageing or enables astronauts to travel to Mars.
A metabolite called NAD+, present in every cell in the body, has a key role as a regulator in protein interactions that control DNA repair. The team from the University of South Wales, Australia found that after mice were treated with NMN - a NAD+ precursor - their cells’ ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation or old age improved.
Professor David Sinclair and lead author of the study in Science, said: “The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice, after just one week of treatment. 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.”
This work has piqued NASA’s interest as it could provide a way to keep astronauts healthy during a four-year mission to Mars, and in December 2016, the research won the space agency’s iTech initiative. This competition invited scientists and engineers to submit proposals to aid future space explorations. On short missions in space, astronauts experience accelerated ageing from cosmic radiation which causes muscle weakness, memory loss and other symptoms.
Other beneficiaries of this research could be childhood cancers survivors. Dr Lindsay Wu, who has been working alongside Professor Sinclair, said 96% of childhood cancer survivors have a chronic illness by 45. These include cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancers unrelated to the original one, usually as a result of radiation from previous treatments or genetic susceptibility.
Dr Wu said: “All of this adds up to the fact they have accelerated ageing, which is devastating. It would be great to do something about that, and we believe we can with this molecule.” Many cancer survivors experience delayed effects from chemotherapy or radiation, with neurologic and cognitive effects more commonly observed.
Human trials will begin this year at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. The research was published in Science.
