Study finds hypertension drug can slow down aging

Repurposing drugs that can increase lifespan and health has huge untapped potential in translational geroscience. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)

Repurposing drugs that can increase lifespan and health has huge untapped potential in translational geroscience.

Persons over 65 are currently the fastest growing demographic group in the world, and this fact symbolizes the global aging of the population. Unfortunately, with age now comes age-related chronic disease and death, and so the estimated benefit of slowing down aging, even if the effect is rather small, is enormous.

A large body of evidence has demonstrated that the rate of aging can be markedly slowed down in model organisms. To date, calorie restriction (CR) is the most reliable anti-aging measure, and CR promotes longevity across species.

However, human studies of CR have had mixed results, low adherence, and many side effects, meaning that finding drugs that can mimic the effect of calorie restriction is the most reasonable anti-aging goal. However, only a few compounds have been identified that mimic the beneficial effects of CR.

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Researchers have found that the drug rilmenidine can increase life expectancy and slow down aging.

The results, published in Aging Cell, show that animals treated with rilmenidine, which is currently used to treat hypertension, have increased lifespan and improved health markers at young and old age, mimicking the effects of caloric restriction.

They also demonstrate that the longevity and health benefits of rilmenidine treatment in C. elegans roundworms are mediated by the I1-imidazoline receptor nish-1, identifying this receptor as a potential longevity target.


Increased survival of C. elegans with rilmenidine treatment. (CREDIT: aging cell)

Unlike other drugs previously studied by investigators for this purpose, the widely prescribed oral antihypertensive drug rilmenidine could potentially be transferred to humans in the future because side effects are rare and not severe.

To date, a calorie-restricted diet is considered the most reliable anti-aging remedy for promoting longevity across species.


Rilmenidine-induced autophagy disrupted polyQ aggregation. (a) Representative images of adult transgenic animals at day 2 expressing the gut specific autophagy reporter gene. (CREDIT: aging cell)

However, human studies of calorie restriction have yielded mixed results and side effects, meaning that finding drugs like rilmenidine that can mimic the benefits of calorie restriction is the most sensible anti-aging strategy.

Professor João Pedro Magalhães, who led the study at the University of Liverpool and is now at the University of Birmingham, said: “With a global aging population, the benefits of slowing aging, however small, are enormous. Repurposing drugs that can increase lifespan and health has huge untapped potential in translational geroscience. For the first time, we were able to show in animals that rilmenidine can increase lifespan. We are now looking to explore whether rilmenidine may have other clinical applications.”

This study was conducted by researchers at the University of Liverpool, ETH Zürich and Harvard Medical School with funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation, LongeCity and the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Research Council.

For more science news, visit our New Discoveries section at The bright side of the news.

Note: Materials provided above by the University of Liverpool. Content can be edited for style and length.

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