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Mannick is investigating the effects of rapamycin-like drugs in covid-19. His trial is being held in nursing homes where disease outbreaks are experienced. Half of the participants were given the drug and the other half a placebo for four weeks. Among those given a placebo, “25 percent of them developed severe covid and half died,” says Mannick, who has yet to publish the study. None of those who took the drug developed any covid-19 symptoms.
“There are multiple strategies to help the aging immune system fight covid better,” he says. “Aging is the biggest risk factor for severe covid and is a modifiable risk factor.”
He hopes to take the use of his drug beyond covid-19; A rejuvenated immune system could theoretically fend off many other viral and bacterial infections. BioAge’s colleague Stanley Perlman, a coronavirologist at the University of Iowa who co-authored the research on the covid drug in mice, has future pandemics in mind. “The next time there is coronavirus in 2030, maybe all this information will be very useful then,” he says.
out with the old
The immune system is not the only target of anti-aging drugs. Others are aiming clean old cells. Most of the cells in our body divide up to a certain point. When they reach this limit, they must die and be cleared by the immune system. But this is not always the case – some cells linger. These cells no longer divide, and some instead produce a toxic infusion of chemicals that triggers harmful inflammation in the surrounding area and beyond.
The cells that do this are called “aged” and accumulate in our organs as we age. They’re linked to a growing number of age-related diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, cataracts, Alzheimer’s – the list goes on. They also seem to play an important role in coronavirus infections.
James Kirkland, who studies aging and cell aging at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says that in an as yet unpublished study, he has evidence that the coronavirus infects senescent cells faster than non-aging cells. His research also suggests that senescent cells release chemicals that cause neighboring non-aging cells to acquire the virus as well.
Not only are these cells getting more coronaviruses, they’re also but they also seem to provide a breeding ground for new virus variants.. “There is emerging evidence that senescent cells infected with coronavirus can mutate this virus,” says Kirkland. “So they could even be a cause of viral mutations.”
As an added concern, the coronavirus can age healthy cells. Given all this, aging has become an obvious target of both anti-aging and covid-19 treatments. Studies on mice and hamsters show that: Compounds that kill senescent cells may improve covid-19 symptoms and increase the chances of survival.
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