[Mb-civic] Life-Lengthening Hormone Found in Mouse Research - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Life-Lengthening Hormone Found in Mouse Research

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 26, 2005; Page A01

Scientists have identified a hormone that significantly extends the life 
span of mice, a discovery that could mark a crucial step toward 
developing drugs that boost longevity in people.

The hormone is the first substance identified that is produced naturally 
in mammals, including humans, and can extend life span -- a long-sought 
goal in the intense effort to help people live longer.

Much more work is needed to study the substance, and investigate whether 
the hormone or a similar compound would be effective and safe in people, 
experts cautioned. But the discovery opens highly promising avenues for 
research and provides tantalizing new clues toward deciphering the basic 
biology of aging.

"This is a significant discovery. It's an exciting paper," said Anna 
McCormick of the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the new 
research, published online yesterday by the journal Science. "It's 
definitely the way you would go about designing molecules that would 
promote healthy aging and longevity in people."

Makoto Kuro-o of the University of Texas's Southwestern Medical Center 
at Dallas, who led the research, said, "This could provide a key to 
understanding the molecular mechanisms of aging and opens up new areas 
to the potential therapy for multiple age-related diseases in humans."

The discovery was triggered by a study Kuro-o and his colleagues 
published in 1997. That study identified a gene in mice that, when 
damaged, caused the animals to experience all the hallmarks of aging in 
humans -- hardening of the arteries, thinning bones, withered skin, weak 
lungs -- and to die prematurely. They dubbed the gene Klotho, for the 
Greek goddess who spins the thread of life.

Suspecting the gene may play a role in regulating life span, Kuro-o and 
his colleagues genetically engineered mice with overactive Klotho genes. 
In the latest experiments, they found that these animals lived an 
average of 20 to 30 percent longer than normal -- 2.4 to 2.6 years vs. a 
normal life span of about two years -- without any signs of ill effects, 
according to the new report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501224.html?nav=hcmodule
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