Anti Ageing Drugs and Molecules

Increased Life Expectancy

Anti-ageing and reversing it seems to be a science fiction. However, technological innovations are being developed to achieve this goal. Longevity is also sited in ancient hindu literature (click here). Attaining longer life has been a major quest for many eminent researchers and pharmaceutical companies (some of them are listed in table 1).

Scientists	Primary Institution
Alex Zhavoronkov	Insilico Inc.
David Sinclair	Harvard Medical School
Aubrey de Grey	SENSE Research Foundation

I have often seen following FAQs on ageing problem in variety of discussion forums:

a) Is it possible to slow down ageing?

b) Is it possible to live longer than 100 years?

c) Is reversing of ageing possible?

Figure 1: Top 10 countries with increased life expectancy

In light of the above mentioned questions it is certainly possible to slow, reverse and live longer. Evidences of long living naked mole rats, longest living lady  Jeanne Louise Calmest and based on the life expectancy data of WHO (figure 1) and "Our World in Data" shows (figure 2) increase in average life expectancy in last 160 years.

Figure 2: Increase In Life Expectancy over 160 Years

These results indicates that there is a chance of increasing life expectancy.

Molecules For Anti-ageing

Ironically, drinking wine can help in anti-ageing. It doesn't mean that people should  be drunk to achieve a long life (seems to be impractical). A Harvard Professor, Dr. David Sinclair discovered that the active ingredient of red wine (called as resveratrol) obtained from black grapes may be responsible for anti-ageing by activating SIRT1 de-actylase mediated mechanism at cellular level (Science Magazine). They found that natural (resveratrol) and synthetic sirtuin activating compounds (STACs) may help in anti-ageing by targeting SIRT1. Resveratrol supplements are available by pharmaceutical companies for consumption on amazon. Following TEDMED video of Prof. Sinclair explains the importance of anti-ageing research and how to achieve it at cellular level can be seen here.

Figure 3: Resveratrol and Wine In Anti-aging

Although, this discovery is an important scientific finding towards attaining longevity. However, it is difficult to say with certainty, if resveratrol will work effectively in human conditions because of its complexity. 

Another commonly used molecule for anti-ageing application is Curcumin. Similar to resveratrol this molecule is also available from food material (figure 4) and it forms one the most common ingredient of Indian Spices. Curcumin is a phytochemical molecule and it may help slowing ageing process by inhibiting mTOR pathway.

Figure 4: Curcumin

Molecules like resveratrol and curcumin have shown to be the proof of principle that there is a possibility of attaining long life by slowing the ageing process. Eminent researchers are still struggling to find newer and better molecule which may help in anti-ageing by targeting telomeres, m-TOR or SIRT1.  Further, following documented video by Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov showcase Insilco Inc. finding about healthy ageing in an international symposium as shown below:

Insilco Inc under leadership of Dr. Alex is not only trying to study ageing at molecular level but also trying to fight against age related disease by developing personalised medicine segment. In addition to the use of these molecular findings a new mobile app is developed by RYNLK  to detect the effects of these anti-aging molecule by taking selfies. App can be downloaded from the following link. More technical details about the use of this app can also be available from here