New drug shows promise in preventing accelerated ageing

An international research team has created a drug that could help to prolong the lifespan of patients affected by diseases that cause accelerated ageing.

Conducted by Northwestern University in the US and Japan's Tohoku University, the study identified the key role played by a protein called PAI-1 in cell and physiological ageing, before developing a therapy to inhibit the protein's effect.

By doing so, the team was able to successfully treat mice exhibiting accelerated ageing in the form of arteriosclerosis, neurodegeneration, osteoporosis and emphysema, with the resulting decrease in PAI-1 activity quadrupling their lifespan and keeping their organs healthy.

It is hoped that this technique could be used to treat human conditions such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes and HIV infection, as well as reducing the ageing effects of cigarette smoking.

Dr Douglas Vaughan, senior author of the study, said: "A drug like this could help reduce complications in clinical conditions that reflect accelerated ageing. This had a very robust effect in terms of prolonging life span."

Currently, the number of people in the UK affected by chronic diseases is on the rise, due in part to the overall ageing of the population. As such, new therapies of this kind could be welcome in future.