Word: rapamycin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...natural compound used as an immunosuppressant in organ-transplant patients has been found to extend life in mice, according to a study published on July 8 in the journal Nature. Aging mice that were given the substance, rapamycin, lived significantly longer than mice that didn't get the drug: females that received rapamycin were 13% older at death and males 9% older...
Because of their late start (researchers had intended to study mice from early ages but were stymied by technical difficulties), scientists weren't sure they could expect clear results. However, even administered late in life, rapamycin delayed the deaths of the longest-lived male mice by 101 days and by 151 days in the longest-lived females - the equivalent of about 13 years on average in humans - compared with mice with no treatment. In terms of life expectancy when treatment began (or average remaining lifespan when the mice were 600 days old), that translates to an increase...
Although the results are untested in humans, they do suggest that aging could be slowed by drugs. Exactly how rapamycin works is "still an open question," says Randy Strong, a pharmacology professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and one of three lead authors of the study. But he and his colleagues were prompted to test the aging effects of rapamycin, which was discovered in Easter Island soil samples about 40 years ago, after noting that the compound appeared to affect cell growth in lab animals in much the same way as calorie-restricted diets...
...finding suggests a new way to overcome drug resistance in cancer. A scientific team led by Scott A. Armstrong, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical School and an investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, identified the Food and Drug Administration-approved immunosuppressant drug, rapamycin, as a therapeutic candidate for overcoming drug resistance in a form of human leukemia...
...perfect. It damages the kidneys and leaves the body more vulnerable to cancer. Doctors try to minimize these problems by using the lowest possible dose of the medication and supplementing it with other drugs that suppress the immune system, including steroids. Two experimental drugs, FK-506 and rapamycin, may be many times more powerful than cyclosporine but have yet to prove more effective in clinical trials...