Deletion of Il11 extended the lives of mice by 25% (opens in new tab)

(nature.com)

48 pointsNazzareno1y ago9 comments

9 comments

Supermancho1y ago

I immediately wonder how this affected the EOL conditions of those mice.

rexreed1y ago

They outlived their retirement savings and had to re-enter the workforce. It's just a rat race, isn't it.

hi_hello1y ago

Not to mention the radical cost of living adjustment, renting some hole in the wall just to squeak by.

beowulfey1y ago

Article states they had fewer biomarkers of aging, and showed less age-associated obesity, fraility, and metabolic decline. So their "youth" period extended longer.

Actually the point of healthspan vs lifespan is made in the introduction -- it was a justification for using mice for this study, which have clear health phenotypes that are analogous to humans.

PaulHoule1y ago

I'm basically skeptical of any longevity study in mice or yeast or C. Elegans because I think humans already have superior longevity factors over other animals because of our culture: we can live 3x reproductive age and still contribute to the survival of our descendants and our tribe.

Metabolic adaptations that prolong the life of mice might be just bringing them closer to where we are as opposed to something that would work for us.

semperdark1y ago

Unmodified C elegans can certainly live to 3x reproductive age, fwiw. These are all simplistic model organisms by definition but many nearly identical proteins are found in humans and there’s value to studying their structure and function in a very well-known environment. I wouldn’t take it as “just delete IL11 and you’ll live to 130!” but the fact that it’s presented that way is more the fault of marketing departments and science writers.

gumby1y ago

It switched them from CRLF to \n?

xk_id1y ago

The only significant, deleterious phenotype in il-11 KO mice is the inability to sustain pregnancy. So far it seems to have a very high safety profile.

ChrisArchitect1y ago

[dupe]

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40987224

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