The group of researchers led by Carlos Lopez Otin at the University of Oviedo, has found that insulin growth factor - or IGF1 - extends life in an animal model of human premature aging. The work was published yesterday.
The treatment developed by these researchers can extend a 25 percent longevity of mice with progeria. According to the authors, this represents an important step toward understanding the mechanisms involved in the development of this disease. In addition, it raises a new therapeutic option for patients affected by syndromes of accelerated aging, those who develop during the first years of life characteristic symptoms of old age: osteoporosis, loss of subcutaneous fat and hair, and cardiovascular failure, among others.The life expectancy of people with the most common form of progeria syndrome, Hutchinson-Gilford-is less than 20 years.
The scientists used genetically modified mice created previously in his laboratory. And they found that levels of a hormone known as insulin-like growth factor or IGF1 were abnormally low in these conditions. They decided to restore hormone levels, and treatment with IGF1 led to a marked improvement in various alterations in these mice, including weight gain, recovery of subcutaneous fat and locomotive ability, reduced hair loss and increased significant life expectancy.
According Otín, this paper raises an option "to improve the clinical situation and extend the life of those suffering from premature aging." In work previously published in Nature and Nature Medicine, the same researchers from the University of Oviedo reported that the accelerated aging was associated with abnormal activation of protective mechanisms against cancer and designed a pharmacological strategy aimed at blocking the accumulation protein responsible for this disease. This work has led to an international clinical trial, currently underway in Marseille, to treat children suffering from this dreadful disease.
spanish source
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