Anti-inflammatory drug turns back time, makes aging blood young again - Study Finds

Researchers from Columbia University in New York say an anti-inflammatory drug can rejuvenate the system which makes blood — possibly increasing the human lifespan by decades!

Passegué and graduate student Carl Mitchell discovered the anti-inflammatory drug anakinra, approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis cases, reverses some of the effects of aging on the hematopoietic system.

“Blood stem cells live in a niche; we thought what happens in this specialized local environment could be a big part of the problem,” Mitchell explains.

Results show the damaged bone marrow niche, IL-1B, plays a key role in driving these aging features.

The team discovered even more anti-aging benefits in the blood system and bone marrow after preventing IL-1B from triggering inflammation throughout the animals’ lifespans.

“Treating elderly patients with anti-inflammatory drugs blocking IL-1B function should help with maintaining healthier blood production,” Passegué says, who hopes this study will soon lead to clinical trials.