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Dr Christophe de Jaeger (Geriatrician and researcher)
Researchers from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom have just published a study in which they believe that a molecule known to fight against high blood pressure could increase life expectancy. Explanations from Christophe de Jaeger, physiologist and member of the Doctissimo expert committee.
How to extend human life expectancy? This is the question posed by some scientists and a team of researchers from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom in collaboration with the Institute of Translational Medicine in Switzerland and Harvard Medical School in the United States.
A drug that mimics calorie restriction
The researchers studied rilmenidine, a molecule already known to fight against high blood pressure. Rilmenidine is a prescription drug sometimes marketed under the brand names Hyperium, Albarel, Tenaxum, and Iterium.
Before choosing this molecule, the scientists first performed a computer analysis to determine which drugs can mimic calorie restriction. Indeed, the latter has long been known to have anti-aging effects.
“Our calculation method works by identifying drugs that exhibit molecular signatures similar to calorie restriction. This allowed us to identify various compounds as candidates for slowing aging.” indicates the main author of this work, Dr. João Pedro Magalhães.
“We chose to focus on rilmenidine because it is available orally with human clinical uses and modest, rare side effects.” he continued. “Therefore, it is an attractive drug for the repositioning of other age-related diseases and anti-aging in general.“.
The life expectancy of worms extended
Then, to carry out the study itself, they used an animal model, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which only lives a few weeks. One group of worms was treated with rilmenidine, while another group was not, constituting the control group.
“We found that animals treated with rilmenidine lived significantly longer, about 20%, than controls.” explains the researcher. “Next, we looked at health markers and found that animals treated with rilmenidine are healthier for longer, which means lifespan and healthy lifespan are prolonged by rilmenidine treatment.” .
According to him, rilmenidine is already used clinically, including by elderly people, that it is available orally and that it has rare and non-serious side effects, it is plausible to reuse it for others clinical applications.“Although of course further work is needed to establish its effectiveness in the context of other age-related diseases.“he nuances.
The opinion of Dr Christophe de Jaeger, physiologist and member of the Doctissimo expert committee
“This study is an additional publication of the action of a molecule on longevity. We know that calorie restriction has an effect on longevity, it has already been demonstrated. The FDA has an ongoing study of metformin, a commonly used diabetes drug, to determine its effects on longevity as well. This requires the study of its action on glycemia, but also on the FOXO genes of longevity, on lipid metabolism, the regulation of intracellular waste… Just like the rilmenidine studied here” explains on the one hand the specialist. “This molecule which acts against arterial hypertension. Lowering blood pressure in an individual actually increases his longevity, by preventing him from certain serious cardiovascular events. This study is therefore interesting because it opens up a new avenue, but it must be remembered that these molecules remain drugs and that their use must remain under medical supervision.However, they present cellular actions with interesting specific effects that it is necessary to study in the long term in humans, to explore possible side effects or undesirables that could occur for this anti-aging indication” he concludes.