Not all old and damaged cells die, some stick around as zombie senescent cells which are unable to divide but still produce chemical signals, that are thought to be involved in the aging process. Nicolas Musi from the University of Texas adds removing these cells may be beneficial to promote healthy aging and preventing disease of aging in humans, already shown in animals.
Based on the pilot results of an early trial the theory appears to hold water. In January 2019 the team published results from their trial involving 14 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients with a drug combination believed to clear out senescent cells. Over 3 weeks the patients took 9 doses of quercetin and dasatinib. By the end of the trial patients were reported to be able to walk farther and showed signs of improved well being, without any serious side effects.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a form of lung disease that result in scarring of the lungs for unknown reasons, which over time gets worse and it becomes hard to take in a deep breath and the lungs can’t take in enough oxygen. The 2 main symptoms are breathlessness and chronic cough and may also include chest pain/tightness, unexplained weight loss, lack of appetite, tiredness, no energy, and fingers changing shape to clubbing.
Therapeutically fundamental biological hallmarks of aging were targeted that are implicated in IPF for the first time in humans, these early results are very promising. At the moment it is hard to tell if the combination will be effective as an anti-aging therapy but the team is committed to find out; and are already testing in a group of 15 more lung patients as well as 20 patients suffering from chronic kidney disease. James Kirkland adds, if everything goes well and effectiveness signals are seen without encountering bad side effects the team plans to enroll patients with less life threatening conditions.
“Hooray! After 30 long years the anti-aging biotech industry has finally gotten around to objective testing of senolytics products such as quercetin, dasatinib, metformin, and rapamycin. Sadly now for the bad news, the FDA has chosen to throw a monkey wrench into clinical research studies of parabiosis (young blood) trials via its Safety Guidance/Warning Letter and release which had the effect of shut down Ambrosia research, whose investigators believed they were on the cusp of great discoveries. If FDA regulators did what was of best benefit to the people they would encourage startup biotechs such as this, which have tremendous potential for aging diseases and have not shown any indications of morbidity or mortality to date.”
Dr. Ronald Klatz, MD., DO.
President and founder of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
