Switching off the inflammatory protein IL-11 increases longevity: discovery in a study in Nature

Switching off a protein with an inflammatory action could ignite longevity and increase healthy old age years: in fact, a study in the journal Nature on animals shows that deactivating an inflammatory protein called IL-11 (interleukin 11) can significantly increase the healthy lifespan of mice by almost 25%. This was shown in a study in the journal Nature and coordinated by scientists from Duke National University and the National Heart Research Institute in Singapore, together with Imperial College and Duke University.

The researchers, starting from an observation on the ability of axolotl salamanders to regenerate amputated limbs, observed that IL-11 levels increase with age in various tissues in mice and that eliminating this gene by genetic engineering techniques prolongs the average survival of mice of both sexes by about 25%. Similarly, treating normal mice with an anti-IL-11 drug from 75 weeks of age (corresponding to about 55 years in humans) until death extended the average lifespan by 22.4% in males and 25% in females. The mice lived an average of 155 weeks, compared to the normal 120 weeks. Lowering Il-11 decreases cancer deaths in animals and diseases caused by fibrosis, chronic inflammation and poor metabolism, which are characteristics of ageing.

'The treated mice had fewer tumours and were free of the typical signs of ageing and frailty, but we also observed a reduction in muscle atrophy and an improvement in muscle strength. In other words, the elderly mice receiving anti-IL-11 were healthier,' says study author Stuart Cook, who raises the tantalising possibility that switching off this inflammatory protein may have a similar effect in the elderly. Specific anti-IL-11 treatments are currently in human clinical trials for other conditions, potentially offering exciting opportunities to study their effects in human ageing in the future.

"The work is very interesting because it suggests that inhibition of IL-11 may represent a new therapeutic strategy to promote healthy ageing by slowing down and postponing the onset of undesirable effects such as muscle fragility and metabolic decline," says Alessandro Sgambato, Professor of General Pathology at the Catholic University, Rome campus, in a comment. 'This is certainly an important discovery that adds another piece to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for age-related physiological changes and represents a further step towards the development of a protective therapy against them,' he continues. The finding is also in line with what is already known about the close link between ageing and inflammation, the phenomenon also known as 'inflammaging'. IL-11, in fact, is an important mediator of inflammation, and drugs capable of inhibiting IL-11 are already being tested in humans for chronic inflammatory diseases, such as fibrotic lung disease. This will allow studies to evaluate the beneficial effects of IL-11 inhibition on ageing and associated diseases in humans'.

'Let us not forget, however, that our goal is not only to extend life but also to ensure a good quality of life and good physical and mental health in elderly subjects. Therefore, we first need to better clarify the link between IL-11 and ageing in humans, for example by measuring the molecule in elderly and young subjects and, above all, in centenarians and ultracentenarians, and to investigate the effects of anti-IL-11 drugs on the metabolic decline in the elderly,' Sgambato concludes. 'In the meantime, we continue to fight inflammation and ageing with the traditional methods we know to be effective, such as a healthy lifestyle with regular physical activity and an adequate diet, such as the Mediterranean diet.