Fight Aging!

To add to the existing set of online databases relevant to aging research at senescence.info, the DrugAge database was recently announced. This contains a list of interventions that modestly slow aging in various species, along with degree of life extension obtained and references. You might compare this effort with the similar geroprotectors database. The databases are an interesting resource, but it is worth noting that from the perspective of the SENS rejuvenation research programs next to none of this data is all that relevant to the future of human healthy life extension. None of the various compounds so far shown to slow aging in other species should be expected to produce gains in humans that are significantly greater than can be obtained by lifestyle choices such as exercise and calorie restriction. To do better than that requires targeted repair of the molecular damage that causes aging, not merely slowing down the accumulation of that damage a little.

Scientists have announced a database of lifespan-extending drugs and compounds called DrugAge. The database has 418 compounds, curated from studies spanning 27 different model organisms including yeast, worms, flies and mice. It is the largest such database in the world at this time. Significantly, the study found that the majority of age-related pathways have not yet been targeted pharmacologically, and that the pharmacological modulation of aging has by and large focused upon a small subset of currently-known age-related pathways. This suggests that there is still plenty of scope for the discovery of new lifespan-extending and healthspan-extending compounds.

DrugAge is the latest of a number of valuable resources freely available on the Human Aging Genomic Resources (HAGR) website. Other resources available through HAGR include GenAge (a database of age and longevity-related genes in humans and model organisms), AnAge (a database on ageing, longevity records and life-history featuring over 4000 species), GenDR (a database of genes associated with the life extending effects of dietary restriction), and LongevityMap (a database of over 2000 human genes and genetic variations associated with longevity). The database is freely available to the public, and is searchable according to compound name, species and effect on lifespan. The data can be presented as both tables and interactive charts. Functional enrichment analysis of the targets of the database's compounds was performed using drug-gene interaction data, which revealed a modest but statistically significant correlation between the cellular targets of the database's compounds and known age-related genes.

"DrugAge represents a landmark resource for use in the biogerontology community. It is the largest database of lifespan-extending compounds compiled to date, and will surely come to be recognized as an extremely valuable resource for biogerontologists. Analysis performed using the database has already revealed interesting trends, including a modest but statistically significant overlap between lifespan-extending drugs and known age-related genes, a strong correlation between average/median lifespan changes and maximum lifespan changes, a strong correlation between the lifespan-extending effects of compounds between males and females, and perhaps most significantly that most known age-related pathways have yet to be targeted pharmacologically. More broadly, an understanding of the comparative effects of geroprotectors upon the lifespan of a variety of different model organisms is important both for basic research into the biology of ageing, demonstration of lifespan plasticity via modulation of a variety of distinct biomolecular targets as proof to regulators that healthspan extension is a viable paradigm for disease treatment and prevention, and for the eventual clinical translation of potential geroprotectors."

Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-03/brf-bdo031017.php