An inflammatory molecule (in green) is visible in liver tissue from an older mouse
Anissa A. Widjaja et al. 2024
Blocking an inflammatory molecule known as interleukin-11 (IL-11) extends the lifespan of mice, suggesting that drugs inhibiting IL-11 may have anti-ageing effects in people, too.
As we get older, our cells accumulate damage, triggering the immune system to spew out inflammatory molecules like IL-11. While small doses of inflammation can protect us from disease or injury, excessive amounts damage cells, which is believed to accelerate ageing.
“It is like pouring petrol onto a fire,” says Stuart Cook at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Stifling inflammation could, therefore, slow age-related declines in health.
To test this idea, Cook and his colleagues injected 37 mice with a drug that uses antibodies to block IL-11. The mice received an injection every three weeks starting at 75 weeks of age – comparable to about 55 years old in humans – until they died. A separate group of 38 mice received a different antibody therapy that didn’t target IL-11.
The researchers found that blocking IL-11 extended the lifespan of both male and female mice by more than 20 per cent. In further experiments, animals treated with the anti-IL-11 therapy were less likely to develop cancer: less than 16 per cent of the treated rodents had tumours, compared with more than 60 per cent of those in the control group.
The therapy also reduced cholesterol levels, frailty and body weight in the treated animals, and it improved their muscle strength and metabolism. Together, these findings suggest that blocking IL-11 may mitigate age-related health declines in mice as well as improving lifespan.
However, we won’t know if the same is true in people until clinical trials are conducted, says Cook. Multiple trials are under way to test anti-IL-11 therapies in people with certain inflammatory conditions, such as pulmonary fibrosis, but none is investigating its potential anti-ageing effects, he says.
It is also important to keep in mind that some amount of inflammation as we age is normal, says Shilpa Ravella at Columbia University in New York. This makes it harder to know who may benefit from these types of anti-inflammatory therapies, she says.
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