Potential cure for premature ageing

While hunting for a cure for a lethal childhood disease, scientists in England claim to have discovered how to slow down the ageing process.

With high hopes that the new treatment may help millions of newborns and lead to a greater understanding of how the damaging effects of ageing can be prevented, scientists say the treatment works by combining existing medicine with an over-the counter dietary supplement called N-acetyl cysteine, helping to reportedly repair or reverse damaged cells.

Although the study is in its early stages, scientists claim the research shows potential for helping people live “more comfortable and less painful lives when they reach 70 and 80 years of age and beyond”.

The treatment, developed during a study into progeria, which is a premature ageing disease affecting children causing them to age up to eight times as fast as the usual rate, will hopefully be a means of slowing down the ageing process in children with this disease.

“In the long-term [this treatment] almost certainly has an implication for normal ageing,” says Professor Chris Hutchinson, of Biophysical Sciences Institute at Durham University.

“It would be great to find a way to help relieve some of the effects of progeria and to extend the children’s lives, whilst also finding a way to help increasingly ageing populations in many parts of the world,” he says.

The first results of the 18-month study, led by Durham University, are published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.