(NewsNation) — A drug used to treat kidney transplant recipients may have anti-aging benefits for parts of the body that impact hair, skin, heart and immune health, a systematic review suggests.
The review, published in the journal Lancet, examined more 18,400 research articles that touched on the medication’s potential anti-aging benefits. The immunosuppressive drug has received FDA approval for use in some organ transplant recipients and cancer patients. It hasn’t been approved for anti-aging purposes — an area that still needs more research.
Studies so far suggest rapamycin and its derivatives can have positive effects on the immune, cardiovascular, and integumentary (hair, skin, nails and glands) systems, the review stated.
Animal studies suggest treatments that target the mTOR pathway can extend lifespan by up to 20% in yeast, 19% in worms, 24% in flies, and 60% in mice.
“By lowering the rate at which healthy cells transform into senescent cells, rapamycin can slow the aging process at the tissue level, helping to preserve organ function and overall health as we age,” Daniel Tawfik, a molecular biologist and co-founder of Healthspan, told Fox News.
Rapamycin is an mTOR inhibitor, meaning it blocks some cell activity including division, growth and survival. Researchers believe it could play a key role in regulating aspects of the human aging process.
More research, however, is needed to determine how the drug might affect respiratory, digestion, kidney and reproductive functions in humans, the review’s authors said.