A new study is underway to test whether it is possible to delay age-related diseases with an innovative combination of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and anti-inflammatory medications and supplements.
The small study includes healthy adults aged 65 to 80 who agreed to try HIIT training, which includes brief periods of cardiovascular exercises combined with resistance training. In addition, all participants will take daily capsules of spermidine, a supplement often marketed for healthy aging, as well as a generic medication with potent anti-inflammatory effects.
“As we age, the immune system shifts away from beneficial inflammation,” which is the body’s acute and short-term response to fight injuries or infections and promote healing, explains Dr. Thomas Marron, one of the researchers leading the new study. Marron directs early-phase clinical trials at the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
In contrast, pathogenic inflammation can arise from overactive immune cells that release inflammatory signals after a prolonged response to a bacterium or virus. People also develop chronic inflammation simply due to aging, a condition known as age-associated chronic inflammation (inflammaging). “It’s not necessarily that we’re getting more infections as we age, but rather that we’re becoming more inflamed in general as the immune system weakens. It’s this type of harmful inflammation that underlies the development of many different diseases,” says Marron, from cancer and heart disease to dementia.
“We hope that by reducing this inflammation, we can lower the incidence of these diseases that become more common with age and promote healthier aging,” Marron states.
“I’ve reached the age where I’m concerned about aging well,” says study participant Robert Profusek, a lawyer in his 70s who says he wants to stay as healthy and physically active as possible. “I don’t want to get to the point where it takes ten minutes to cross Park Avenue,” he says.
After a few months of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) combined with resistance band exercises, Profusek says he is already feeling the benefits. The workouts last about 15 minutes per day and include bursts of jumping jacks, aiming to do as many as possible in short periods. “It’s good for me,” he says, noting that he is pushing himself.
In contrast, pathogenic inflammation can arise from overactive immune cells that release inflammatory signals after a prolonged response to a bacterium or virus. People also develop chronic inflammation simply due to aging, which has been called age-associated chronic inflammation (inflammaging). “It’s not necessarily that we have more infections as we age, but rather that we become more inflamed in general as the immune system weakens. It’s this type of harmful inflammation that underlies the development of many different diseases,” says Marron, from cancer and heart disease to dementia.
“We hope that by reducing this inflammation, we can lower the incidence of these diseases that become more common with age and promote healthier aging,” Marron states.
“I’ve reached the age where I’m concerned about aging well,” says Robert Profusek, a lawyer in his 70s and study participant, who says he wants to stay as healthy and physically active as possible. “I don’t want to get to the point where it takes ten minutes to cross Park Avenue,” he says.
After a few months of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) combined with resistance band exercises, Profusek says he is already feeling the benefits. The workouts take about 15 minutes per day and include sets of jumping jacks, with the goal of doing as many as possible in short periods. “It’s good for me,” he says, noting that he is pushing himself.
People who exercise regularly can reduce the risk of developing metabolic diseases, in part due to the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise. And large observational studies have found that women who exercise and do strength training reduce their risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 30% compared to less active women.
The researchers chose to add the spermidine supplement to the mix, based on research showing that spermidine can stimulate autophagy, the process by which the body eliminates damaged cells and reduces inflammation. Our body naturally produces spermidine, but over the years, production decreases significantly, leading to lower levels. Spermidine supplements have shown to extend lifespan in preliminary animal studies.
The study includes two types of generic medications. Half of the participants will take lamivudine, an antiviral drug, and the other half will take rapamycin, a long-prescribed medication for transplant patients to prevent organ rejection.
Both medications were approved by the FDA decades ago for the treatment of specific diseases. Now, the question is whether they will be effective in preventing age-related diseases in healthy older adults through inflammation reduction.
Rapamycin has been a hot topic among longevity enthusiasts. “People have been taking it, off-label, in very low doses,” says Marron. The idea is that in this way, it can act as a potent anti-inflammatory.
As with any medication or supplement, it is important to weigh the risks and benefits. “There are a number of side effects that patients may experience, and it’s not known for sure which patients will develop them,” says researcher Philip Iffland from the University of Maryland, who wrote a review on the pros and cons of rapamycin for longevity.
Marron’s team will collect blood samples from all participants at multiple points throughout the one-year study and analyze changes in inflammation markers using high-tech, high-resolution proteomic analysis. “We’re doing a test that analyzes 5,300 different proteins, including cytokines and chemokines,” Marron explains. These are signaling proteins that act as “traffic agents” for immune cells, coordinating the body’s response to infections, injuries, and inflammation.
The analysis will help researchers map all the proteins in the blood sample to find biomarkers and also provide a more comprehensive view of the immune response, showing how cells and proteins interact during acute or chronic inflammation.
The researchers hope to observe a significant reduction in the “harmful inflammation” underlying all these diseases that arise with aging, says Marron.
He and his team are semifinalists in the XPRIZE Healthspan competition. And if the preliminary results are promising, more research will be conducted. This summer, XPRIZE will announce 10 finalists who will share a $10 million prize and advance to the final phase.
“We’re excited about the innovative thinking and powerful approaches we’re seeing proposed by these teams,” says Jamie Justice, executive vice president of the XPRIZE Foundation and adjunct professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The goal of the competition is for researchers to develop interventions capable of restoring muscle, cognitive, and immune function by at least 10 years—with a target of 20 years—and extending healthy lifespan.
“It’s an ambitious project,” says researcher Miriam Merad, director of the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who is also leading the new study. “We hope to make a difference,” she says, emphasizing the importance of “laying the groundwork” for extending vitality, not just lifespan.
For Robert Profusek, who is participating in the study, that’s the main point. “If you can do something like a regimen like this to extend your vitality, why wouldn’t you?” he asks.
Source: npr.org by Allison Aubrey