'Breakthrough' new drug could stop ageing and halt cell self-destruction

Scientists believe they've developed a drug that could halt human ageing and reverse the impacts of 'cell death', with trials due to kick off later this year.

Cell death is a natural, and essential, process that takes various forms. One such form is necrosis, an unregulated type of cell death that can lead to premature cellular destruction.

During necrosis, affected cells swell until they burst, spilling their contents into the surrounding area, potentially causing chronic inflammation, genetic instability, and in some instances, tumours.

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This process has been associated with numerous diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, various cancers, and kidney disease.

The world-renowned cancer journal, Oncogene, highlighted in May that a study into kidney disease could help researchers gain a better understanding of how necrosis operates and how to fight it, reports the Express.

Dr Carina Kern, formerly a geneticist at University College London and now CEO of biotech firm LinkGevity, led the study. She believes a new category of drugs, dubbed 'anti-nectrotics', could be the first medication used to reverse the effects of ageing.

Part of Dr Kern's motivation for her involvement in the project stems from her childhood experience of witnessing her grandmother's health rapidly decline due to an age-related illness.

"At the time, I could not comprehend how I was so easily cured of nearly any injury, and I would be back to normal. But with her, the doctors just said 'you can't intervene-it's just ageing,'" she explained.

Years later, after observing such deterioration, Dr Kern formulated the "Blueprint Theory" of ageing, which delves into the roots of ageing and identifies points for potential intervention to stave off illness.

A key element identified in her research is necrosis, which Kern asserts is fundamentally a "loss of calcium-ion gradients."

She elaborates: "Levels of calcium inside the cell are typically 10,000 to 100,000 times lower than outside. Calcium is a key signalling molecule, meaning it controls lots of different processes within your cell.

"And so upon stress, you lose this regulation and then you're initiating multiple pathways in a heightened and really destructive manner within the cell."

Although necrosis has been known for over a century and was further examined under microscopes in the 1970s, there hasn't been significant advancement in preventing its role in severe diseases.

However, Dr Kern, alongside a team of renal experts, might be on the verge of a discovery targeting kidney disease that could also have implications for anti-ageing treatments.

Dr Kern said: "It was thought it was just too complex a process to intervene in. What we've managed to identify for the first time is that you can block necrosis, but you have to block more than one molecular target... When we did that, we saw up to 90 per cent of suppression of necrosis."

His colleague and co-author of the study, Dr Keith Siew, commented: "The kidney...is by far the most in-demand organ, and the one you're most likely to die on a waiting list for.

"Some people think dialysis just fixes the problem, but the mortality rate of dialysis is that every year you're on dialysis, you lose 10 per cent of survival."

Having collaborated with NASA to explore how space travel impacts renal function, particularly when astronauts are exposed to cosmic radiation beyond Earth's magnetosphere, Dr Siew noted:.

"Only 24 people have left the protection of Earth's magnetic field. You might feel fine on the way, but will you need dialysis on the way back?".

He suggested that "Anti-necrotics could be a way to make those tissues and organs resilient enough to withstand that damage and pause cell death."

Despite their groundbreaking work, both Kern and Siew maintain a cautious stance, describing themselves as "professional sceptics" regarding the potential success of the anti-necrotic drug, with clinical trials set to commence in 2025.

Dr Siew emphasised the need for robust evidence: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," he said. "Until that data is rock solid...a lot of people will view this skeptically and rightfully so."