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Elixir of life
A deficiency of taurine could be a driver of aging in humans, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University. The study, which included dozens of aging researchers, discovered taurine supplements can slow down the aging process in worms, mice and monkeys and could even extend the healthy lifespans of middle-aged mice by up to 12%. "This study suggests that taurine could be an elixir of life within us that helps us live longer and healthier lives," said Vijay Yadav, assistant professor of genetics and development at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The researchers do not yet know if supplementing taurine – which is produced naturally in the body and found within food sources – will improve health or increase longevity in humans, but they believe the results of two human studies suggest it has that potential.
ALS slowdown
An early clinical trial has shown a drug typically used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease can delay the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by up to six months. In this new trial, researchers from Japan have shown the drug ropinirole is safe to use in ALS patients and delayed disease progression by more than 6 months (27.9 weeks) on average. "ALS is totally incurable, and it's a very difficult disease to treat," said senior author and physiologist Hideyuki Okano of the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo. "We previously identified ropinirole as a potential anti-ALS drug in vitro by iPSC drug discovery, and with this trial we have shown that it is safe to use in ALS patients and that it potentially has some therapeutic effect.” To test ropinirole's safety and
effectiveness in patients with sporadic (non- familial) ALS, the team recruited 20 patients at Keio University Hospital who had been living with ALS for 20 months. The trial was double blinded for the first 24 weeks, then
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for the following 24 weeks, all patients who wished to continue were knowingly administered ropinirole. To determine whether the drug was effective at slowing the progression of ALS, the team monitored a variety of different measures throughout the trial and for four weeks after treatment concluded. These included changes in the patients' self-reported physical activity and ability to eat and drink independently, activity data from wearable devices and physician-measured changes in mobility, muscle strength and lung function. "We found that ropinirole is safe and tolerable for ALS patients and shows therapeutic promise at helping them sustain daily activity and muscle strength," said first author Satoru Morimoto, a neurologist at the Keio University School of Medicine. The benefits of ropinirole relative to the placebo became increasingly pronounced as the trial progressed. However, placebo group patients who began taking ropinirole halfway through the trial did not experience these
improvements, suggesting ropinirole treatment may only be useful if treatment is started earlier and administered over a longer duration. Next, the researchers investigated the mechanisms behind ropinirole's effects and looked for molecular markers of the disease. To do this, they generated induced pluripotent stem cells from the patients' blood and grew these cells into motor neurons in the lab. Compared with healthy motor neurons, they found motor neurons from ALS patients showed distinct differences in structure, gene expression and metabolite concentrations, but ropinirole treatment reduced these differences. The study was limited due to a high drop-out rate – partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and resulted in only 7/13 ropinirole-treated and 1/7 placebo- followed-by-ropinirole-treated patients being monitored for the full year. “To confirm its effectiveness, we need more studies, and we are now planning a phase 3 trial for the near future,” concluded Okano.
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In the first, Yadav and his team looked at the relationship between taurine levels and approximately 50 health parameters in 12,000 European adults aged 60 and over. Overall, people with higher taurine levels were healthier, with fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, lower obesity levels, reduced hypertension and lower levels of inflammation. "These are associations that do not establish causation," Yadav says, "but the results are consistent with the possibility that taurine deficiency contributes to human aging." The second study tested if taurine levels would respond to an intervention known to improve health: exercise. The researchers measured taurine levels before and after a variety of male athletes and sedentary individuals finished a strenuous cycling workout and found a significant increase in taurine among all groups of athletes (sprinters, endurance runners and natural
bodybuilders) and sedentary individuals. "No matter the individual, all had increased taurine levels after exercise, which suggests that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from an increase in taurine," Yadav says. Only a randomised human clinical trial will determine if taurine truly has health benefits, and although trials are currently underway for obesity, none are designed to measure a wide range of health parameters. Other potential anti-aging drugs – metformin, rapamycin and NAD analogs – are being considered for testing in clinical trials. "I think taurine should also be considered," Yadav says.
Medical researchers outside of the study have commended the work, but cautioned people against consuming large amounts of taurine, which at high concentrations is known to cause digestive problems, kidney strain and potentially harmful interactions with medications.
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