Switching off inflammatory protein leads to longer, healthier lifespans in mice
Posted by Staff of goGardenNow on
Science Daily reported, "Scientists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science and Imperial College London have discovered that 'switching off' a protein called IL-11 can significantly increase the healthy lifespan of mice by almost 25%.
"The scientists, working with colleagues at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, tested the effects of IL-11 by creating mice that had the gene producing IL-11 (interleukin 11) deleted. This extended the lives of the mice by over 20% on average.
"They also treated 75-week-old mice -- equivalent to the age of about 55 years in humans -- with an injection of an anti-IL-11 antibody, a drug which stops the effects of the IL-11 in the body."
But, do we really want mice to live longer?
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