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Medicine Science

'Supermodel Granny' Drug Extends Life In Mice By 25%, Study Finds 95

A drug has been shown to extend the lifespan of laboratory mice by nearly 25%, with treated mice displaying fewer cancers and improved health and strength. It earned them the nickname "supermodel grannies" due to their youthful appearance. "The drug is already being tested in people, but whether it would have the same anti-ageing effect is unknown," reports the BBC. From the report: The team at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Science, Imperial College London and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore were investigating a protein called interleukin-11. Levels of it increase in the human body as we get older, it contributes to higher levels of inflammation, and the researchers say it flips several biological switches that control the pace of ageing.

The researchers performed two experiments. The first genetically engineered mice so they were unable to produce interleukin-11. The second waited until mice were 75 weeks old (roughly equivalent to a 55-year-old person) and then regularly gave them a drug to purge interleukin-11 from their bodies. The results, published in the journal Nature, showed lifespans were increased by 20-25% depending on the experiment and sex of the mice.

Old laboratory mice often die from cancer, however, the mice lacking interleukin-11 had far lower levels of the disease. And they showed improved muscle function, were leaner, had healthier fur and scored better on many measures of frailty.
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'Supermodel Granny' Drug Extends Life In Mice By 25%, Study Finds

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  • Why? (Score:5, Funny)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @05:46AM (#64634633)

    Why would we want longer living mice with improved health and strengtth? Are they trying to make a new end boss? Imagine an entire colony of these new and improved mice coming out of the walls of a small room you're in.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

      A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

      • by znrt ( 2424692 )

        Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

        it would make sense that the latter brings the former.

        A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

        if that were a consistent trend i should be long dead by now.

        • Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

          it would make sense that the latter brings the former.

          A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

          if that were a consistent trend i should be long dead by now.

          And that's the part that I find fascinating about those type of studies. They are utter bullshit when they try to quantify your likely death based on how many cigarettes, beer, exercise or (fill in the blank) you have partaken on.

          Life is too short to spend all our time trying to squeeze out a few extra years. All of those years an the old and deteriorated end for that matter.

          • Life is too short to spend all our time trying to squeeze out a few extra years. All of those years an the old and deteriorated end for that matter.

            I will happily take any and all of those "end of model" years you might choose to have left over...

            I want to go on for as long as I possibly can.

            Hell, if I could get bit by a vampire and be immortal, I'd go for it immediately.

            Hmm...well, if I had the choice, I'd like to lose a bit of weight first, so I don't go through eternity this overweight....but hey, be

            • by skam240 ( 789197 )

              Agreed. It's all well and good to talk with ease about going to oblivion when ones health is good, most dont seem to hold the same opinions though when they are dying or if they do it's often because they've destroyed their bodies via poor living and thus have nothing to live for.

              After years of poor living those in poor health are rarely ready to go when death comes knocking early though.

              • Agreed. It's all well and good to talk with ease about going to oblivion when ones health is good, most dont seem to hold the same opinions though when they are dying or if they do it's often because they've destroyed their bodies via poor living and thus have nothing to live for.

                After years of poor living those in poor health are rarely ready to go when death comes knocking early though.

                Different strokes for different folks.

                And the concept that people are responsible for their infirmities. Allow me to give the example of my Mother in law. A devout lady, never smoked, never drank. Took care of herself. She should have been a shining example. But she became demented in her late 60's. Was in a nursing home the last 12 years of her life.

                She thought my wife was her mother, became foul mouthed and racist. Thought the "fucking Chinese" were always stealing her TV remote control. And the fi

                • by skam240 ( 789197 )

                  And the concept that people are responsible for their infirmities. Allow me to give the example of my Mother in law. A devout lady, never smoked, never drank. Took care of herself. She should have been a shining example. But she became demented in her late 60's. Was in a nursing home the last 12 years of her life.

                  Absolutely people arent 100% responsible for their infirmities, I was never arguing that point. Given the poor way most are treating their bodies in this country though https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/ph... [cdc.gov]. plenty seem to be going out of their way to create new ones for themselves or bring what they're predisposed to on themselves sooner.

                  Making long term health choices so the odds are strong one has plenty of healthy and happy retirement years is just good long term planning. I want to be healthy and happy in

                • I'm a youngster compared to you, almost 20 years behind, and I really agree on the sentiment you expressed here. My motto, even if worded differently, aims at the same idea: "live long, die young". Where obviously young stands for healthy, in shape, etc. So I do my best to stay fit, eating healthily, doing sports, no drugs, almost no alcohol. But the other thing you mention is the tough one: you don't have control over everything. So if dying 'young' isn't in the cards anymore, not as much sense to 'live lo
            • Life is too short to spend all our time trying to squeeze out a few extra years. All of those years an the old and deteriorated end for that matter.

              I will happily take any and all of those "end of model" years you might choose to have left over...

              I want to go on for as long as I possibly can.

              Oh, I do get the sentiment. We're all involved in life based on our temperament and experiences. A friend of my wife's brother was dying of terminal cancer. He was in a lot of pain, but he held on long after there wasn't much point, as the cancer eventually entered his bones. At that point, it is damn hard to manage pain. But he wouldn't let go until he more or less just rotted. To me, his will to live was strong, but over broad. Bedridden and in pain, and doing nothing but lying in bed, I guess he found t

        • Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

          it would make sense that the latter brings the former.

          Only if your time is not spent in misery. If life as an adject horror-show, filled with days of misery and pain, or constant existential crises, extending it isn't improving your quality of life at all. It's just extended misery.

          A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

          if that were a consistent trend i should be long dead by now.

          Amen.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

        Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

        A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

        So much this. The problems with "life extension" is that if and when it works, all of the extension is on the old end of life.

        If I had, say, another 20 years on my 30's, then return to normal aging - yeah - sign me up. If all life extension gets me is more years of being old - miss me with that.

        • Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by LazarusQLong ( 5486838 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @09:04AM (#64634917)
          people say this when they are young... my 89 year old mom though, she is enjoying her life, still working as a lawyer (doing care and protection for the State and helping people, believe it or not). I am pretty sure she doesn't want to die soon simply because of her age and current state of decrepitude... I mean she has serious scoliosis which she never got treated when she was younger, and now they say she isn't really a candidate for treatment, so she is a hunchback, with her spine twisted up and still happy to get up every single day and get out there and fight the good fight defending people who have been deemed unable to defend themselves.

          At a younger age it is easy to believe that all old people are this or that, but once you hit old age, well, people are all different and all old people don't spend the last years of their lives in care and unable to do things that they enjoy.

          This is not to say that I want you to do x or y, no I just hope that you live to a ripe old age and also enjoy every minute of it, dying with a smile on your facw, as you fight the Grim Reaper every step of the way.

        • by skam240 ( 789197 )

          It's hinted at in the summary but confirmed in the article itself, this drug is effecting health and well being as well as longevity which only makes sense. How would something make someone live longer without improving well being after all?

      • I don't know. There are some beers that I would want to have a much more drastic effect on my lifespan if I had to drink one of them a week :)

      • Rather than living longer, I'd rather have better quality of life with the time I have.

        A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

        Or...maybe look at it another way.

        The longer you live, the MORE beer you can drink!!!

        ;)

        Hey, I don't care if I have to get a shot or bit by a vampire, if I could stop aging now and live forever (or at least almost) I'll take that bargain NOW.

        I love living....

        • Hear, Hear! Life is full of so many wonderful things, that each and every day, regardless of the issues we all have, we should try to take joy in the moments that we have, however few or many they may be.
      • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by LazarusQLong ( 5486838 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @08:54AM (#64634881)
        the summary clearly states that reduced inflammatory stuff, better strength and better appearance were some of the side effects... hence that sounds like a better quality of life to me. Currently I suffer from too many things causing joint inflammation, so reducing that would definitely help me and my quality of life!
      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Yep, same here. Although one a week? That seems to be exceptionally speculative. I am currently running a long-term experiment with a little less than one a day. So far, so good.

        My take is that all these "longer life" people are simply deeply afraid of dying and non-rational enough to be able to suppress the fact that dying later still means dying. I do not get that at all. Everybody dies and you cannot actually fail at it. It is not a test where, if you screw it up, you are damned to live forever. Hence it

        • My take is that all these "longer life" people are simply deeply afraid of dying and non-rational enough to be able to suppress the fact that dying later still means dying. I do not get that at all. Everybody dies and you cannot actually fail at it. It is not a test where, if you screw it up, you are damned to live forever. Hence it is actually not that scary. Personally, I see myself already in the "bonus area" for this life. I have developed my skills, insights, knowledge and intuition to most of their po

          • by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Wow...do you really have such little sense of self-preservation?

            That misinterpretation says a lot more about you than about me. And it has nothing to do with self-preservation. Competent self-preservation takes cost of measures vs. quality of outcome into account. Otherwise you could live as lot longer and be miserable along the way. I fail to see how that is desirable.

            I am scared to death of dying....I know it's coming, but I'm more than willing to do anything possible to push it as far off as humanly possible.

            Well, I am not. I think I have done a good job for myself, and dying is, as I said, not something you can fail at. Hence no rational reason to be afraid of it. Obviously, countless religions and quasi-re

        • by skam240 ( 789197 )

          My take is that all these "longer life" people are simply deeply afraid of dying and non-rational enough to be able to suppress the fact that dying later still means dying. I do not get that at all. Everybody dies and you cannot actually fail at it. It is not a test where, if you screw it up, you are damned to live forever. Hence it is actually not that scary. Personally, I see myself already in the "bonus area" for this life. I have developed my skills, insights, knowledge and intuition to most of their potential.

          Wtf are you even talking about here? People are afraid of dying because odds are it's the end of their consciousness, as in they will no longer exist. Unless your life is utter shit any rational person would chose life over death hence people working to preserve their health. Where are you even getting this nonsense "well you cant fail at it so who cares when it happens"? Maybe your life is just so empty that you're welcoming death, I cant know that. What you describe is hardly normal thoughts on the subjec

          • by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Wtf are you even talking about here? People are afraid of dying because odds are it's the end of their consciousness, as in they will no longer exist.

            What odds? You should not listen to religions like Physicalism. Incidentally, fear is always a bad advisor. Even if death of the physical body is the end of consciousness (which we do not know and there are some pretty good indicators it may not be), so what? Living in fear is living badly.

            • by skam240 ( 789197 )

              If you cant grasp the uncomfortableness living people have with their own mortality all I have to say to you is have fun with that robot. I dont think that's true though, I honestly think you're just deluding yourself.

              Living in fear is living badly.

              Gotta love your dishonestly. Notice when I clearly stated: "fear of death is a perfectly rational fear to have if held within good measure."

      • A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

        Depends on the beer. :-)

      • A study recently reported that a beer a week can take a couple of months off your lifespan. Seems like a very good deal to me.

        A good deal until you find out the months are taken from the quality portion of your life, not the end.

    • by znrt ( 2424692 )

      i for one welcome our new rodent supermodel granny overlords!

    • Re:Why? (Score:4, Funny)

      by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @07:04AM (#64634687)
      Because they're trans-dimentional beings that are trying to ask the ultimate question about life, the universe, & everything, to which the answer is 42, of course! The "scientists" may believe that they're conducting the experiments but actually...
    • by hawk ( 1151 )

      >Why would we want longer living mice with improved health and strength.

      It says they're more attractive, too.

      After all *you* wouldn't want to be stuck with an ugly one, now would you?

  • False hope is a bitch.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      But you can make tons of money selling it to rich unsophisticated assholes that cannot handle the idea of dying.

  • by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @07:14AM (#64634693) Journal
    It'd be...interesting...to see Ray Kurzweil become a supermodel granny.
  • I just want to know what the drug is, so I can start buying it from a research chem place, instead of waiting for it.
  • Readers of Larry Niven will know what that word means.

    If they're developing a real-world version of that: sign me up. Take decades off my aging process. Restore me back to my 30's or even my 40's.

    But if all they're doing is making you be an old geezer for more years before you drop dead: forget about it, not interested.

  • 25% of 3 years = 3/4 of a year, or about 9 months.

    Reword headline to "Study exhances Rat life expectancy by 9 months"

    Result = highly improved accuracy and sharp drop in idiots reading worthless articles

    Humans life expectancy is over 80 years. We already know how to live longer than rats do. Our problems are not the same as rats, we have issues with long term chemical buildups, long term effects of radiation, etc. etc. Rats do not have those issues, they never live long enough to get 10 years, let alone

    • by iustinp ( 104688 )

      While all this is true, given that it manages to improve the health of even just 36 months old animals, if it has the same effect on humans, it might simply mean a healthier 60s, maybe 70s. That's not bad at all - not everyone dies of PFAS/plastic build-up, or similar. So, assuming the result can be replicated in humans, it is a positive news.

    • So the drug will give us 9 months longer to live!
      People would pay that... and for many years since they don't know when they'd die. The irony would be if they died sooner because it does more harm after 12 months of taking it!

      It's really simple to assume it will extend humans by 25%. Now if the drug could reverse dementia... keep it away from Trump, I'm enjoying watching his decline; I'm seeing how long it takes before his supporters catch on.

  • Why exactly do we need mice to live longer?

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      To rant about stupid IT fads and kick hipsters off our lawns. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

  • by C0L0PH0N ( 613595 ) on Thursday July 18, 2024 @11:46AM (#64635345)
    Getting old doesn't have to be all frailty. There is a 91 year old guy in our community that still teaches skiing at Snoqualmie Pass. And two others in their 90's that can outhike most folks on their weekly 6 mile hikes in the woods. Heck, I'm 80, and got to 10,000' on Mt Adams last summer. Going to try again next summer, and get to the top.
  • I swallowed some while nobody was looking, and let me tell you, my new whiskers and tail look younger than ever!

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