Jake the golden retriever got a delicious glob of peanut butter with five
small tablets concealed inside it every Wednesday morning for an entire
calendar year: two blue, two white, and one orange.
Currently, Dennis the dog follows a modified Wednesday morning schedule. a
delicious piece of string cheese with two white and one blue small tablet
squished inside.
Although nobody is certain of this just yet, it's conceivable that these
delicious treats, which are laced with unknown pills, are contributing to
the older canines' longer and better lives. Additionally, they may
ultimately contribute to the longevity of people.
Tens of thousands of canines across the country took part in the Dog Aging Project, a multi-phase, multi-year research, including Dennis and Jake, both
10 years old. As part of the project's investigation into whether the cancer
and transplant medication rapamycin can extend the lifespan of dogs, Jake
and Dennis are participants in one strictly regulated research.
Researchers will also be examining whether rapamycin can help dogs mature
more healthily and fitly during the trial. If the study is effective, it
might also have significant implications for people. Rapamycin, a potential
anti-aging medication that could help humans and their dogs live longer,
better lives, is thought by researchers to be akin to a pill version of the
fountain of youth.
"Wishful thinking" or dogs with more vitality and less gray hair?
Dennis and Jake are two of the more than 85 dogs currently taking part in
the rapamycin research, officially known as TRIAD. (Test of Rapamycin in
Aging Dogs.) Teams of veterinarians are involved in the study, which is
being conducted at least 15 various trial locations across the country, from
New York to Texas, Colorado, and — shortly — California. Researchers
studying aging Daniel Promislow and Matt Kaeberlein at the University of
Washington and Texas A&M veterinarian Kate Creevy are leading the
initiative. They aim to enlist 580 canines in the study by 2025 and complete
it by 2028.
Jake's proprietor Timothy Cleary said, "They collect blood, urine, fecal
samples, and they do blood pressure.
Jake "is getting more thorough physicals than I do," Cleary said, alluding
to the six-monthly examinations the canine receives at the University of
Georgia, which can last up to four hours.
The study's researchers, the canines, and their owners have no means of
knowing the precise dosage the dogs are taking, or even if they are taking
any medication at all. While some canines receive the medication for the
research, the other dogs receive placebo tablets. In this manner, scientists
hope to determine the true impact of this medication on the life expectancy
of dogs.
Cleary admits that it might be "wishful thinking," but he's sure that his
canine changed after taking the pills for a few months.
He just seemed to have more vitality, said Cleary, "We'd throw a little
lacrosse ball in the backyard, and I'd see him jumping off our rock
wall."
Veronica Munsey, Dennis's owner, added, "This could be totally wishful
thinking," but she's 99% sure that Dennis's hair, which had been turning
gray for a while, started to darken again after he started taking the weekly
tablets.
The ideal lab mate for men
Rapamycin has been used for many years to treat adult renal transplant
recipients. By preventing cancer cells from procreating, it can also aid in
the therapy of some cancers that are immune to treatment, as found more
recently by drug makers. It aids in the suppression of important immune
system components, slows the development of things like tumors, and
activates a cellular cleaning process in the body that is comparable to
fasting.
Everything here seems to be beneficial for protection to viruses, including
the flu and perhaps COVID. Rapamycin extends the lives of fruit flies,
nematodes, rodents, and water fleas, according to research.
Rapamycin's impacts on aging canines and humans are still being researched,
though. The medication also carries some risks: Because rapamycin inhibits
the immune system, patients taking it occasionally develop mouth sores and
may experience delayed wound and cut recovery.
Because of this, studies of the medication are being conducted on canines
before more extensive clinical testing in humans.
Dogs are an excellent choice for study because they are social animals and
share our surroundings, according to Matt Kaeberlein, co-director of the Dog
Aging Project.
Dogs, unlike yeast and flies, don't reside in labs; instead, they roll
around in the grass, smell pollutants and pollen, and travel with us through
drive-thrus, occasionally snatching food bits.
Because a dog's existence "mirrors the human environment," Kaeberlein said,
"we have some reason to be more confident that this will actually work in
people."
A biotech company is also trying anti-aging medications for canines, one of
which is designed especially for larger breeds.
Not just Kaeberlein and the University of Washington crew try canine
anti-aging medications.
The creator and CEO of the biotech company Loyal, Celine Halioua, is
equally committed to helping canines live longer and be healthy, with the
goal of eventually assisting humans in doing the same. For future studies of
two various drugs for aging canines, Loyal recently obtained what Halioua
thinks to be the first Food and Drug Administration-supported longevity
research design. If her experiment is successful, it could be a turning
point for a brand-new field of drug development, finding what experts refer
to as geroprotectors, medications that could help fight mortality. Since no
medication has ever been FDA-approved for the condition of aging in either
humans or animals, if she is successful it could be a game-changer.
It's a crucial turning point for the field of aging because, as she told
Insider, "if we want to have more anti-aging drugs, we need to have a
defined clinical path for a drug going from zero to market for aging."
Loyal is constructing two distinct tablets. The first, known as LOY-001,
aims to prolong the lives of larger canines by reducing the conditions that
hasten their early aging. The second drug, LOY-002, is a distinct substance
that, in accordance with Halioua, functions very similarly to rapamycin.
Additionally, it simulates fasting, boosts a dog's metabolism, and if tests
are successful, it could be used on canines of all sizes.
affordable anti-aging medications
The wonderful thing about creating medications for canines is that it's
precisely the reverse of that, according to Halioua, who claims that the
anti-aging field frequently receives a negative image for being "associated
with billionaires who wanna live forever." If canine owners are going to use
treatments, they need to be inexpensive, widely available, and extremely
secure.
Our narcotics will only be paid for in cash, she declared. "We're not
staking our medication promotion on insurance. Therefore, anything we create
must by necessity be usable if we want it to be available at all.
She thinks that eventually the same paradigm could be applied to
individuals.
My idea of an anti-aging medication is just a daily, inexpensive pill that
the overwhelming majority of Americans over the age of 50 take to lessen
their chance and severity of developing age-related illnesses in the future,
she said. It's sort of like the best form of prophylactic medication.
Kaeberlein agrees with Halioua that yes, it would be wonderful to have an
inexpensive salve for age-related decline in people some day, particularly
one that costs just a few dollars per tablet. He isn't ashamed to confess
that he's already tested rapamycin out on his own aging joints. Even though
that might not be feasible, he would still be happy with study that extends
the lives of dogs like his own and other canines.
It would be great, he said, "if we can extend the healthy lifespan of pet
dogs." "If we have that impact, I'm a dog person and I can say I've
accomplished something significant in my career."
