Hypertension drug rilmenidine can extend lifespan and delay ageing, study reveals
UK: A recent study published in Aging Cell has claimed that rilmenidine, a drug currently used for hypertension treatment, can slow ageing and extend lifespan.
The findings show that animals treated with rilmenidine at young and older ages increase lifespan and improve health markers, mimicking the effects of caloric restriction.
They also demonstrate that the healthspan and lifespan benefits of rilmenidine treatment in the roundworm C. elegans are mediated by the I1-imidazoline receptor nish-1, identifying this receptor as a potential longevity target.
Unlike other drugs previously studied by the researchers, the widely-prescribed, oral antihypertensive rilmenidine has the potential for future translatability to humans as side effects are rare and non-severe.
A caloric restriction diet has been considered the most robust anti-ageing intervention, promoting longevity across species. However, studies of caloric restriction in humans have had mixed results and side effects. Finding medications like rilmenidine that mimic caloric restriction's benefits is the most reasonable anti-ageing strategy.
The study’s key findings include:
- The authors showed that treating Caenorhabditis elegans with rilmenidine at young and older ages increases lifespan.
- They also revealed that the stress-resilience, health span, and lifespan benefits of rilmenidine treatment in C. elegans are mediated by the I1-imidazoline receptor nish-1, implicating this receptor as a potential longevity target.
- Consistent with the shared caloric-restriction-mimicking gene signature, supplementing rilmenidine to calorically restricted C. elegans, genetic reduction of TORC1 function, or rapamycin treatment did not further increase lifespan. The rilmenidine-induced longevity required the transcription factors FOXO/DAF-16 and NRF1,2,3/SKN-1.
- Autophagy, but not AMPK signaling, was needed for rilmenidine-induced longevity. Moreover, transcriptional changes similar to caloric restriction were observed in liver and kidney tissues in mice treated with rilmenidine.
Professor João Pedro Magalhães, who led the research at the University of Liverpool and is now based at the University of Birmingham, said: “With a global ageing population, the benefits of delaying ageing, even if slightly, are immense. Repurposing drugs capable of extending lifespan and health span has a huge untapped potential in translational geroscience. For the first time, we have shown in animals that rilmenidine can increase lifespan. We are keen to explore if rilmenidine may have other clinical applications.”
Reference:
Bennett DF, Goyala A, Statzer C, Beckett CW, Tyshkovskiy A, Gladyshev VN, Ewald CY, de Magalhães JP. Rilmenidine extends lifespan and healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans via a nischarin I1-imidazoline receptor. Aging Cell. 2023 Jan 20:e13774. doi: 10.1111/acel.13774. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36670049.
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