AI-designed drug may slow signs of human aging
An artificial intelligence-designed drug being developed for a serious lung disease showed signs of reducing patients' biological age in a small clinical trial, according to a study in Nature Biotechnology, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The study examined rentosertib, an experimental drug designed with the help of AI and being developed to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that causes progressive scarring of the lungs. Researchers analyzed blood samples from 42 participants in a 12-week Phase 2a trial and used six different "aging clocks" based on changes in blood proteins.
The participants had an average age of 67.1 years. They received one of three rentosertib regimens or a placebo, with blood samples collected at the start of the study and after two, four and 12 weeks.
All six aging clocks showed a shift toward a younger predicted biological age among people receiving the drug, while the placebo group showed little change or slight increases. The strongest overall signal appeared after four weeks, particularly among patients taking 30 milligrams twice a day.
For another treatment group, receiving 60 milligrams once a day, four of the clocks estimated biological-age reductions of between 2.71 and 3.46 years at week four. However, the researchers stressed that these figures reflect changes in blood-based markers and should not be interpreted as patients literally becoming several years younger.
One major question is whether the apparent effect on aging was simply the result of improvements in the patients' lung disease. The researchers found that the dose producing the greatest improvement in lung function was not the one showing the strongest aging-clock response.
They also compared the protein changes with data from more than 55,000 older adults and found that the twice-daily regimen tended to move some age-related protein patterns in the opposite direction from normal aging.
Still, the authors said the evidence remains indirect. The study involved a small number of people, lasted only 12 weeks and focused on patients with pulmonary fibrosis, making it difficult to separate the drug's effects on the disease from any possible effects on aging itself. Further studies, including research in people without the lung condition, will be needed to determine whether rentosertib genuinely affects the human aging process.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that popular weight-loss drug shows anti-aging effects.