{"id":23769,"date":"2023-06-29T10:29:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T10:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solongevity.com\/longevity-news\/what-is-rapamycin-and-what-effect-does-it-have-on-longevity\/"},"modified":"2023-07-17T09:16:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T09:16:48","slug":"what-is-rapamycin-and-what-effect-does-it-have-on-longevity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solongevity.com\/en\/longevity-news\/what-is-rapamycin-and-what-effect-does-it-have-on-longevity\/","title":{"rendered":"What is rapamycin and what effect does it have on longevity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>What is rapamycin?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Rapamycin<\/strong> is an <strong>antibiotic<\/strong> of natural origin, produced by a soil bacterium, <em>Streptomyces hygroscopicus<\/em>. It was first isolated from a soil sample from Rapa Nui Island (Easter Island), after which it is named. Rapamycin, however, is also known as <strong>Sirolimus<\/strong>. Rather than as an antibiotic, however, this molecule has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicine Agency (EMA) as a<strong> drug to prevent rejection<\/strong> of newly transplanted organs due to its ability to <strong>reduce the immune response<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>How does it work?<\/h3>\n<p>In mammals, rapamycin acts on an <strong>enzyme<\/strong> that can regulate the <strong>growth<\/strong>, <strong>proliferation<\/strong> and <strong>survival<\/strong> of our cells.<br \/>\nPrecisely because it constitutes the main target of rapamycin, this enzyme has been named <em>mammalian Target Of Rapamycin<\/em><strong>(mTOR<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<h3>Why is rapamycin considered a longevity molecule?<\/h3>\n<p>Studies have shown that rapamycin<strong> stimulates the synthesis<\/strong> of particular proteins called <strong>histones<\/strong>, which interact with <strong>DNA<\/strong> and<br \/>\nhave the fundamental function of allowing it to <strong>compact itself<\/strong> within the nucleus of the cell. In practice, histones function for DNA like real spools, like the ones on which sewing thread is wound. Without histones, our cells would not be able to survive, and even small <strong>mutations<\/strong> in these special proteins are often <strong>lethal<\/strong>. Histone expression naturally <strong>decreases<\/strong> during<strong>aging,<\/strong> but it has been seen that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/articles\/62233\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the phenomenon appears to be counteracted by the administration of rapamycin<\/a><\/strong>, at least in fruit flies and mice, and especially in the intestinal cells of these animals. Here, then, is one of the hypotheses that would explain its effect on <strong>longevity<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4996648\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">administered over a period of three months to 20-month-old mice<\/a> (which is equivalent to about 60-65 years in humans), rapamycin was shown to <strong>extend their lives by about 50 percent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>Does it have side effects?<\/h3>\n<p>Administration of rapamycin at the dosages that are used to prevent rejection of newly transplanted organs can cause <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ema.europa.eu\/en\/medicines\/human\/EPAR\/rapamune\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numerous <strong>side effects<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\neven serious ones, including increased cholesterol and blood glucose (with possible onset of diabetes), accelerated heart rate, slowed wound healing, formation of ulcers in the mouth, and the appearance of menstrual disorders. For this reason, part of the scientific community <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifespan.io\/campaigns\/pearl-participatory-evaluation-of-aging-with-rapamycin-for-longevity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is focusing research in this area<\/a> on the possibility of administering<strong> low dosages<\/strong> of this molecule and for<strong> short periods of<\/strong> time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rapamycin, currently used as a post-transplant anti-rejection drug, appears to counteract the age-related reduction in histone expression. However, it can cause even serious side effects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":23560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[159,171],"class_list":["post-23769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-longevity-science-en","tag-rejuvenation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is rapamycin and what effect does it have on longevity? - SoLongevity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rapamycin appears to counteract the reduced expression of histones due to aging. 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