A triple drug combination has been used to extend the lifespan of fruit flies by 48% in a new study led by UCL and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing: The three drugs are all already in use as medical treatments: lithium as a mood stabiliser, trametinib as a cancer treatment and rapamycin as an immune system regulator. The findings, suggest that a combination drug treatment may one day be helpful at preventing age-related diseases in people.

"As life expectancies increase, we are also seeing an increase of age-related diseases so there is an urgent need to find ways to improve health in old age," said the study's co-lead author, Dr Jorge Castillo-Quan, who began the research at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing before moving to Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School.

The Study was conducted on fruit flies which age more rapidly than people and was found out that a combination drug treatment targeting different cellular processes may be an effective way to slow down the ageing process.

The researchers were building on previous studies finding that lithium, trametinib and rapamycin can each extend lifespan in fruit flies (Drosophila), which is supported by other preliminary evidence in mice, worms, and cells, and observational findings in people.

The three drugs all act on different cellular signalling pathways that together form the nutrient sensing network, which is conserved across evolution from worms and flies all the way to humans. This network adjusts what the body is doing in response to changes in nutrient levels. The three drugs in question act on different proteins of this network to slow the ageing process and delay the onset of age-related death.

For the latest study, the researchers gave fruit flies doses of lithium, trametinib and rapamycin, separately and in combination. Each drug individually extended lifespan by an average of 11%, while pairing two drugs extended lifespan by roughly 30%. When the three drugs were combined, the fruit flies lived 48% longer than flies in a control group that were not given the treatment.

The researchers found that in addition to acting on separate signalling pathways within the nutrient sensing network, the drugs also appear to complement each other to reduce side effects. Rapamycin has undesirable effects on fat metabolism, which can be similar to insulin resistance in people, but lithium appeared to cancel out this effect when the two drugs were given together.

The researchers will continue their research to better understand exactly how the drugs work in combination with each other, and hope to progress to experiments in more complex animals, such as mice, to gauge the effects on the entire body before eventually progressing to human trials.

Let’s hope for the new advancement in the field of pharmacy with no side effects and good health promise.

Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research (IS0SN: 2325-9604) is a subscription based journal that provides a range of options to purchase our articles and also permits unlimited Internet Access to complete Journal content.

You can submit your research work and new findings in the area of pharmaceutics and drug delivery in our Journal online or in this mail id: drugres@peerjournal.org

Thanks & Regards,

Subhana Quadri
Journal Coordinator
Journal of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Research
drugdelivary@peerreviewedjournal.org