Maine News Updates

WASHINGTON -  A drug used to prevent the rejection of organ
transplants was found to significantly increase the life span of older
mice, researchers report.

The National Institute on Aging is
testing compounds that may extend the life span of mice. The drug
rapamycin is the first to work for both male and female mice, according
to a study published online in the journal Nature.

The drug
couldn't be used for that purpose in people. It suppresses the human
immune system to prevent a transplant recipient's body from attacking
the donated tissues, raising the odds of disease.

Researchers
didn't start the medicine on the mice until they were about 600 days
old, the equivalent of about 60 years for people. Despite that delay,
the rapamycin seemed to work, said lead author David Harrison of the
Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

That surprised and impressed gerontologist George Martin at the University of Washington, who was not part of the study.

Females fed rapamycin lived 14 percent longer than those that didn't take the drug. For males, it was 9 percent longer.

Randy
Strong, a study co-author and professor of pharmacology at the
University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said it is
the equivalent of adding six extra years of life to men and eight years
for women.

Rapamycin already extended life for yeast, worms and fruit flies.

"This
is most promising," said Nancy Nadon, of the National Institute on
Aging and another study co-author. She said the key is to find other
compounds that target the same cellular pathway without the harmful
side effects of rapamycin.

Earlier studies showed that
resveratrol, which is in red wine, extended the life of obese mice.
Unlike resveratrol, rapamycin worked on normal size mice of both
genders, Harrison said.