Key to slow aging unlocked by Stanford researchers

Welcome back. Stanford scientists may have unlocked the key to slowing down aging and protecting our organs as we get older. A newly published study looked at immune cells in mice where scientists found by blocking a specific cell receptor they were able to slow the aging of internal organs in mice and prevent inflammatory illnesses. Joining us with some insight is Dr. Kati Andresen who was the senior author of the study and leads the research team there at Stanford. Dr. great to have you with us. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Well this sounds like a major breakthrough in simple terms. What did your team discovered about why we age? Well the immune system actually ends up being very important. Our immune system contains cells that keep us safe from pathogens but they're also very important in keeping our bodies clean and keeping our organs pristine by gobbling up dead cells and things like that. And so what we found is that one cell type in the body in the immune system is actually very, very important in aging to keep our organs clean. And these are what we call macrophages that reside in our tissues, our tissue resident macrophages. And so as we age the function of these cells decline. And when they decline they don't do what they're supposed to do. And so lots of stuff builds up in organs including lots of dead cells that should be removed. And that leads to a lot of inflammation and promotes organ aging. So that was the central point. I think you call them garbage collectors right? Well yeah or house you know I think I think it's they're very, very important. We wouldn't be able to live as long as we do without their good function. But yes they're absolutely critical. And what kind of improvement did you did you find in the mice? Yes so a really old mouse basically had a young heart, a young liver, a young kidney, a young blood. Basically everything the aging process was actually prevented. And so what we need to do now is really understand all the ramifications of that. And we're pretty careful because of course this was all done in experimental models. So we have to be very cautious about you know translating this to people. That's a very different and more complicated organism. Sure. Well you looked at the brain, the heart, the liver, muscles, other organs. Were you surprised that one change seemed to benefit so many parts of the body? Yes we were very stunned by the effect. So we're looking into that much more. It's probably going to be a little bit more complicated in people as it is always want to be. So yeah. Is this more about helping people live longer or helping them stay healthier as we age or maybe a little bit of both? Maybe a bit of both. But to me as a physician it's really important to have good health. It doesn't feel all that good to be unhealthy and living very long. So it's better to increase our health span. I think that's the priority so that people can live to the best of their health for as long as they're going to live. All right. Well count me in for starters. No drug approved yet that targets that EP2. What are the next steps before it becomes a treatment maybe for people like us? Well it's a very long road. As we know discovering drugs that are actually safe, that is the biggest hurdle, safety. And that typically can take a decade or two. So I guess that is the next step. Hopefully somebody will take this on. But then there's going to be a lot of clinical trials, safety trials, making sure this is safe in people especially in people who are older which is the target population here. And older people tend to be more sensitive to medications and usually have other health problems. So it's a bit more complicated in that population. But like I said count me in. Is it sustainable? Meaning what do you mean? Well once you do it and figure this out, will it... Oh can you? Yeah well that's a great question. I think we need to test that. We need to make sure that it's safe over the long haul. This could be something that people could think about a chronic use. On the other hand we can also explore intermittent use. Typically medicines are always used on a daily basis but that doesn't always have to be the case. Well it is fascinating and it sounds like you're in some new territory there and got a lot of people rooting for you doctor. Thank you so much for sharing and all the best with your work. Thank you so much for having me. You bet.