2011年復(fù)活節(jié)：復(fù)活節(jié)島上的長壽秘密(雙語)
復(fù)活節(jié)島上的長壽秘密
Secret to a longer life lies on Easter Island
Probably the world's most remote and least-visited inhabited island, Easter Island is globally famous for its haunting monumental stone statues of human faces.
A drug originating on Easter Island, the mysterious South Pacific home of a lost statue-building people, may become the first substance to slow down human ageing, new research indicates.
Rapamycin, a pharmacological product used to prevent rejection in organ transplants, has been found to extend the lifespan of mice by up to 38 per cent, raising the possibility that it may delay ageing in people.
Hitherto a matter for science fiction, the idea of an anti-ageing drug which would allow people to prolong their natural lifespan and also to avoid age-related diseases is now being seriously considered for the first time as a result of the findings by American researchers.
Rapamycin is a bacterial product originally found in a soil sample from Easter Island. Originally developed as an anti-fungal agent, rapamycin was soon found to have powerful immuno-suppressant properties and thus be valuable for preventing rejection of transplanted organs. It was also found to delay the ageing process when used experimentally with three sets of lower organisms: yeast, nematode worms and fruit flies.
Now, however, it has been shown to affect the ageing of mice – the first time that this has ever been shown with a mammal.
A team of 14 researchers from three institutions, led by David Harrison from the Jackson Laboratory at Bar Harbor in Maine, fed rapamycin to mice late in their life – at 600 days of age – and showed that both the median and maximal lifespan of treated animals were considerably extended. Currently, the only way to extend the life of a rodent is by severely restricting its diet, so this marks the first report of a pharmacological intervention that lengthens the life of mammals – with clear implications for humans.
The results, published recently in an online paper on the website of the journal Nature, are attracting considerable excitement, and an accompanying article in Nature by two of the world's leading experts on the ageing process, Matt Kaeberlein and Brian K Kennedy from the University of Washington, Seattle, headed "A Midlife Longevity Drug?" openly asks the question: "Is this the first step towards an anti-ageing drug for people?"
Their answer is that it may well be. Dr Kaeberlein and Dr Kennedy first issued a warning to people not to start taking rapamycin at once in the hope of prolonging their lives – "the potential immuno-suppressive effects of this compound alone are sufficient to caution against this," they advised.
But they added: "On the basis of animal models, however, it is interesting to consider that rapamycin ... might prove useful in combating many age-associated disorders. Also ... it may be possible to develop pharmacological strategies that provide the health and longevity benefits without unwanted side-effects.”
"So, although extending human lifespan with a pill remains the purview of science fiction writers for now, the results of Harrison et al provide a reason for optimism that even during middle age, there's still time to change the road you're on."
Rapamycin was known to have an influence on ageing in the lower organisms by disrupting the influence of an enzyme known as TOR, which regulates cell growth. Dr Harrison and colleagues found that this was also the case with mice, and found that rapamycin feeding could extend mouse lifespan even when started late in life.
The maximum lifespan went up from 1,094 days to 1,245 days for female mice, and from 1,078 to 1,179 for male mice – a striking increase of life expectancy of 38 per cent for females and 28 per cent for males.
Dr Harrison and his colleagues conclude: "An effective anti-ageing intervention that could be initiated later than the midpoint of the lifespan could prove to be especially relevant to clinical situations, in which the efficacy of anti-ageing interventions would be particularly difficult to test in younger volunteers. Our data justify special attention to the role of the TOR pathway in control of ageing in mammals and in the pathogenesis of late-life illnesses."
Also known as sirolimus, rapamycin was first discovered as a product of the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which was found in an Easter Island soil sample.
復(fù)活節(jié)島上的長壽秘密
世界上最偏遠(yuǎn)的，少有人居的島嶼——復(fù)活節(jié)島，很可能是因?yàn)榱钊穗y以忘懷的不朽石雕人像而舉世聞名。
最新研究表明，一種來源于位于南太平洋已經(jīng)消失的那個(gè)雕刻石像民族的神秘家園——復(fù)活節(jié)島上的藥物，可能成為第一種延緩人類衰老的物質(zhì)。
一種用于器官移植的抗排斥藥物雷帕霉素已被發(fā)現(xiàn)可以延長小鼠的壽命，最多可達(dá)38%。這也增加了推遲人類衰老的可能性。
雖然迄今為止抗衰老藥物還只是科幻小說里的事情，但作為上述發(fā)現(xiàn)的結(jié)果，美國的研究者們正首次認(rèn)真地考慮這種既能延長人們自然壽命，同時(shí)也能避免患上與年齡相關(guān)疾病的抗衰老藥物的想法。
雷帕霉素是一種最初發(fā)現(xiàn)于來自復(fù)活節(jié)島土壤樣本中細(xì)菌的制品。雷帕霉素，原本是作為抗真菌藥劑而開發(fā)出來的，但很快被發(fā)現(xiàn)其具有強(qiáng)大的免疫抑制屬性，因此在防止器官移植排斥方面非常有價(jià)值。人們還發(fā)現(xiàn)在對三種低等有機(jī)物，即酵母菌、線蟲和果蠅進(jìn)行試驗(yàn)使用時(shí)它還可以延緩其衰老的過程。
然而現(xiàn)在，研究已經(jīng)表明雷帕霉素能夠影響小鼠的衰老——這是首次發(fā)現(xiàn)它能有效延長哺乳動(dòng)物的壽命。
來自于緬因州巴哈伯杰克遜實(shí)驗(yàn)室的大衛(wèi).哈里森領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的3個(gè)研究院的14人研究小組給處于老年時(shí)期即600天左右的小鼠喂食雷帕霉素，結(jié)果表明參與實(shí)驗(yàn)動(dòng)物的壽命的中間值和值都有顯著的延長。當(dāng)前，延長嚙齒類動(dòng)物壽命的惟一方法就是嚴(yán)格限制它的飲食。因此，該實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果標(biāo)志著通過藥物干預(yù)來延長哺乳類動(dòng)物壽命的第一份報(bào)告的誕生。這一點(diǎn)也很有可能適用于人類。
近期在《自然》雜志網(wǎng)站電子版上發(fā)表的這一實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果正激起大家的極度興奮。在刊發(fā)于《自然》雜志上的由兩位從事衰老進(jìn)程研究的世界頂尖級專家——來自于西雅圖華盛頓大學(xué)的馬特.卡伯雷和布萊恩.K.肯尼迪撰寫的另外一篇標(biāo)題為“中年長壽藥物？”的配套文章里，他們公開發(fā)問“這是人類抗衰老藥物研究走出的第一步嗎？”
他們的答案是很有可能?？ú缀涂夏岬喜┦柯氏认蛉藗兲岢鼍娌灰⒓撮_始服用雷帕霉素以期延長壽命。他們建議：“這種復(fù)合制劑的潛在抑制免疫系統(tǒng)的效果足夠警示你不用它。”
但是他們又補(bǔ)充道：“然而，在動(dòng)物樣本的基礎(chǔ)上，考慮雷帕霉素在對抗與許多與年齡相關(guān)的失調(diào)問題上可能證明有效，這一點(diǎn)也很有趣。研發(fā)出沒有不想要的副作用而只帶來提供健康和長壽益處的藥物策略也是可能的?！?BR> “因此，盡管目前通過一粒藥丸來延長人類壽命還只屬于科幻作家的范疇，但是哈里森等人的研究結(jié)果給人們提供了一個(gè)令人樂觀的原因：即使人到中年，仍然有時(shí)間改變你的人生旅程。
我們知道雷帕霉素通過破壞一種叫做TOR——用來調(diào)控細(xì)胞生長的酶的作用來影響低等有機(jī)物的衰老。哈里森博士和他的同事發(fā)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn)在小鼠身上也是如此。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)即使在小鼠老年時(shí)才開始喂食雷帕霉素，也能夠延長小鼠的壽命。
雌鼠的壽命最長可達(dá)到1094天至1245天，而雄鼠的壽命可達(dá)到1078天至1179天——也就是說，預(yù)期壽命的顯著增長對雌鼠來說達(dá)到了38%，而對雄鼠來說達(dá)到了28%。
哈里森博士和他的同事們得出結(jié)論：“在中年以后開始進(jìn)行有效的抗衰老干預(yù)證明與隨后的臨床狀況特別相關(guān)，即在比較年輕的志愿者身上測試抗衰老干預(yù)的功效將會(huì)特別困難。實(shí)驗(yàn)數(shù)據(jù)證明，我們應(yīng)該特別關(guān)注TOR在控制哺乳動(dòng)物衰老以及老年疾病致病機(jī)理方面的作用。
雷帕霉素也被稱作西羅莫司，最初是作為吸水鏈霉菌制品被發(fā)現(xiàn)的。該細(xì)菌來自于復(fù)活節(jié)島的土壤樣本中。
復(fù)活節(jié)島上的長壽秘密
Secret to a longer life lies on Easter Island
Probably the world's most remote and least-visited inhabited island, Easter Island is globally famous for its haunting monumental stone statues of human faces.
A drug originating on Easter Island, the mysterious South Pacific home of a lost statue-building people, may become the first substance to slow down human ageing, new research indicates.
Rapamycin, a pharmacological product used to prevent rejection in organ transplants, has been found to extend the lifespan of mice by up to 38 per cent, raising the possibility that it may delay ageing in people.
Hitherto a matter for science fiction, the idea of an anti-ageing drug which would allow people to prolong their natural lifespan and also to avoid age-related diseases is now being seriously considered for the first time as a result of the findings by American researchers.
Rapamycin is a bacterial product originally found in a soil sample from Easter Island. Originally developed as an anti-fungal agent, rapamycin was soon found to have powerful immuno-suppressant properties and thus be valuable for preventing rejection of transplanted organs. It was also found to delay the ageing process when used experimentally with three sets of lower organisms: yeast, nematode worms and fruit flies.
Now, however, it has been shown to affect the ageing of mice – the first time that this has ever been shown with a mammal.
A team of 14 researchers from three institutions, led by David Harrison from the Jackson Laboratory at Bar Harbor in Maine, fed rapamycin to mice late in their life – at 600 days of age – and showed that both the median and maximal lifespan of treated animals were considerably extended. Currently, the only way to extend the life of a rodent is by severely restricting its diet, so this marks the first report of a pharmacological intervention that lengthens the life of mammals – with clear implications for humans.
The results, published recently in an online paper on the website of the journal Nature, are attracting considerable excitement, and an accompanying article in Nature by two of the world's leading experts on the ageing process, Matt Kaeberlein and Brian K Kennedy from the University of Washington, Seattle, headed "A Midlife Longevity Drug?" openly asks the question: "Is this the first step towards an anti-ageing drug for people?"
Their answer is that it may well be. Dr Kaeberlein and Dr Kennedy first issued a warning to people not to start taking rapamycin at once in the hope of prolonging their lives – "the potential immuno-suppressive effects of this compound alone are sufficient to caution against this," they advised.
But they added: "On the basis of animal models, however, it is interesting to consider that rapamycin ... might prove useful in combating many age-associated disorders. Also ... it may be possible to develop pharmacological strategies that provide the health and longevity benefits without unwanted side-effects.”
"So, although extending human lifespan with a pill remains the purview of science fiction writers for now, the results of Harrison et al provide a reason for optimism that even during middle age, there's still time to change the road you're on."
Rapamycin was known to have an influence on ageing in the lower organisms by disrupting the influence of an enzyme known as TOR, which regulates cell growth. Dr Harrison and colleagues found that this was also the case with mice, and found that rapamycin feeding could extend mouse lifespan even when started late in life.
The maximum lifespan went up from 1,094 days to 1,245 days for female mice, and from 1,078 to 1,179 for male mice – a striking increase of life expectancy of 38 per cent for females and 28 per cent for males.
Dr Harrison and his colleagues conclude: "An effective anti-ageing intervention that could be initiated later than the midpoint of the lifespan could prove to be especially relevant to clinical situations, in which the efficacy of anti-ageing interventions would be particularly difficult to test in younger volunteers. Our data justify special attention to the role of the TOR pathway in control of ageing in mammals and in the pathogenesis of late-life illnesses."
Also known as sirolimus, rapamycin was first discovered as a product of the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which was found in an Easter Island soil sample.
復(fù)活節(jié)島上的長壽秘密
世界上最偏遠(yuǎn)的，少有人居的島嶼——復(fù)活節(jié)島，很可能是因?yàn)榱钊穗y以忘懷的不朽石雕人像而舉世聞名。
最新研究表明，一種來源于位于南太平洋已經(jīng)消失的那個(gè)雕刻石像民族的神秘家園——復(fù)活節(jié)島上的藥物，可能成為第一種延緩人類衰老的物質(zhì)。
一種用于器官移植的抗排斥藥物雷帕霉素已被發(fā)現(xiàn)可以延長小鼠的壽命，最多可達(dá)38%。這也增加了推遲人類衰老的可能性。
雖然迄今為止抗衰老藥物還只是科幻小說里的事情，但作為上述發(fā)現(xiàn)的結(jié)果，美國的研究者們正首次認(rèn)真地考慮這種既能延長人們自然壽命，同時(shí)也能避免患上與年齡相關(guān)疾病的抗衰老藥物的想法。
雷帕霉素是一種最初發(fā)現(xiàn)于來自復(fù)活節(jié)島土壤樣本中細(xì)菌的制品。雷帕霉素，原本是作為抗真菌藥劑而開發(fā)出來的，但很快被發(fā)現(xiàn)其具有強(qiáng)大的免疫抑制屬性，因此在防止器官移植排斥方面非常有價(jià)值。人們還發(fā)現(xiàn)在對三種低等有機(jī)物，即酵母菌、線蟲和果蠅進(jìn)行試驗(yàn)使用時(shí)它還可以延緩其衰老的過程。
然而現(xiàn)在，研究已經(jīng)表明雷帕霉素能夠影響小鼠的衰老——這是首次發(fā)現(xiàn)它能有效延長哺乳動(dòng)物的壽命。
來自于緬因州巴哈伯杰克遜實(shí)驗(yàn)室的大衛(wèi).哈里森領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的3個(gè)研究院的14人研究小組給處于老年時(shí)期即600天左右的小鼠喂食雷帕霉素，結(jié)果表明參與實(shí)驗(yàn)動(dòng)物的壽命的中間值和值都有顯著的延長。當(dāng)前，延長嚙齒類動(dòng)物壽命的惟一方法就是嚴(yán)格限制它的飲食。因此，該實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果標(biāo)志著通過藥物干預(yù)來延長哺乳類動(dòng)物壽命的第一份報(bào)告的誕生。這一點(diǎn)也很有可能適用于人類。
近期在《自然》雜志網(wǎng)站電子版上發(fā)表的這一實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果正激起大家的極度興奮。在刊發(fā)于《自然》雜志上的由兩位從事衰老進(jìn)程研究的世界頂尖級專家——來自于西雅圖華盛頓大學(xué)的馬特.卡伯雷和布萊恩.K.肯尼迪撰寫的另外一篇標(biāo)題為“中年長壽藥物？”的配套文章里，他們公開發(fā)問“這是人類抗衰老藥物研究走出的第一步嗎？”
他們的答案是很有可能?？ú缀涂夏岬喜┦柯氏认蛉藗兲岢鼍娌灰⒓撮_始服用雷帕霉素以期延長壽命。他們建議：“這種復(fù)合制劑的潛在抑制免疫系統(tǒng)的效果足夠警示你不用它。”
但是他們又補(bǔ)充道：“然而，在動(dòng)物樣本的基礎(chǔ)上，考慮雷帕霉素在對抗與許多與年齡相關(guān)的失調(diào)問題上可能證明有效，這一點(diǎn)也很有趣。研發(fā)出沒有不想要的副作用而只帶來提供健康和長壽益處的藥物策略也是可能的?！?BR> “因此，盡管目前通過一粒藥丸來延長人類壽命還只屬于科幻作家的范疇，但是哈里森等人的研究結(jié)果給人們提供了一個(gè)令人樂觀的原因：即使人到中年，仍然有時(shí)間改變你的人生旅程。
我們知道雷帕霉素通過破壞一種叫做TOR——用來調(diào)控細(xì)胞生長的酶的作用來影響低等有機(jī)物的衰老。哈里森博士和他的同事發(fā)現(xiàn)這一點(diǎn)在小鼠身上也是如此。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)即使在小鼠老年時(shí)才開始喂食雷帕霉素，也能夠延長小鼠的壽命。
雌鼠的壽命最長可達(dá)到1094天至1245天，而雄鼠的壽命可達(dá)到1078天至1179天——也就是說，預(yù)期壽命的顯著增長對雌鼠來說達(dá)到了38%，而對雄鼠來說達(dá)到了28%。
哈里森博士和他的同事們得出結(jié)論：“在中年以后開始進(jìn)行有效的抗衰老干預(yù)證明與隨后的臨床狀況特別相關(guān)，即在比較年輕的志愿者身上測試抗衰老干預(yù)的功效將會(huì)特別困難。實(shí)驗(yàn)數(shù)據(jù)證明，我們應(yīng)該特別關(guān)注TOR在控制哺乳動(dòng)物衰老以及老年疾病致病機(jī)理方面的作用。
雷帕霉素也被稱作西羅莫司，最初是作為吸水鏈霉菌制品被發(fā)現(xiàn)的。該細(xì)菌來自于復(fù)活節(jié)島的土壤樣本中。