An experimental drug being developed to treat a serious lung disease has shown potential to slow biological aging, according to a small clinical study.
Rentosertib, developed by Insilico Medicine, was administered to patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a condition causing lung scarring. In an unexpected finding, the drug altered blood protein patterns, making patients appear an average of three to four years biologically younger, with one individual showing a six-year reduction. These results were published in Nature Biotechnology.
AI played a role in the discovery of rentosertib. Insilico Medicine utilizes artificial intelligence to identify "molecular criminals" – biological targets implicated in both aging and disease. This approach led to the identification of rentosertib for IPF treatment.
Study Findings
Multiple aging tests indicated that patients treated with rentosertib exhibited a biologically younger profile compared to those who received a placebo. The most significant changes were observed after four weeks of treatment at a dosage of 30 mg twice daily. Researchers also noted that the drug appeared to alter proteins in a direction opposite to typical aging patterns, based on comparisons with data from the UK Biobank.
Further analysis suggested that rentosertib might affect aging at the cellular level, influencing cellular functions and responses to damage. The study included researchers from Insilico Medicine and several academic institutions, including Harvard Medical School and Stanford University.
Limitations and Future Research
Researchers cautioned that these findings are preliminary and the study, which analyzed 42 patients over 12 weeks, had limitations. The small sample size and the specific patient population with IPF, a condition that can affect the same proteins used to measure aging, mean that observed improvements could be linked to the treatment of the lung disease itself rather than a direct anti-aging effect.
The current results do not definitively prove that rentosertib slows aging, improves healthspan, or extends lifespan. More extensive and longer-term trials are necessary to ascertain the drug's true anti-aging capabilities. Future studies will need to include healthy older adults and populations without IPF.
Rentosertib has progressed to a year-long Phase 3 study involving over 300 patients in China. Potential side effects of the drug, such as mild diarrhea, temporary decreases in blood potassium, and elevated liver enzymes, were described as manageable and typically reversible upon discontinuation of the drug. Researchers plan to adjust dosages in future trials to improve patient tolerance and enable longer treatment durations.