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Andrew Steele Profile picture
Andrew Steele
@statto
Scientist (physicist-turned-biologist) / Writer (https://t.co/b7cDbmWGKN) / Presenter (https://t.co/ChpWwP9GqY) / Campaigner / Mastodon, Bluesky, etc: https://t.co/3sPVSia1eE
May 30 • 18 tweets • 5 min read
New 30% mouse lifespan extension paper just dropped!

Another example of rapamycin + something increasing mouse lifespan more than rapamycin or something alone.

In this case, the something is trametinib, an anti-cancer drug: Nature Aging: The geroprotectors trametinib and rapamycin combine additively to extend mouse healthspan and lifespan Highlighted (by me!) section of the abstract: We show here that trametinib treatment extended lifespan in both sexes and that its combination with rapamycin was additive. Combination treatment reduced liver tumors in both sexes and spleen tumors in male mice, blocked the age-related increase in brain glucose uptake and strongly reduced inflammation in brain, kidney, spleen and muscle and circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Lifespan graphs for male and female mice. Figure caption is as follows: Trametinib significantly increased survival in both sexes. Combined treatment significantly increased lifespan compared to the individual drug treatments (log-rank test). Curves represent pooled survival data from the lifespan, tissue collection and phenotyping cohorts (sample size: control ♂ n = 121, ♀ n = 100; rapamycin ♂ n = 120, ♀ n = 98, trametinib ♂ n = 121, ♀ n = 98; combined ♂ n = 120, ♀ n = 98). For survival data of the individual cohorts, see Extended Data Fig. 2a–f. Lifespan studies of control and drug-treat... Rapamycin makes cells think the animal is eating less food, causing recycling of old and broken cellular components. But rapa only hits one of the cells’ nutrient sensors, so the idea is to stop compensatory ‘huh, there is food really!’ signals getting through by another route. There is extensive crosstalk among the branches of the insulin–IGF–mTORC1–Ras network. Simultaneous inhibition of different nodes within the network, by combined drug treatments, could, therefore, be more effective than suppression of single nodes, by prevention of compensatory responses. Combinatorial drug treatments could also inhibit specific targets more strongly or induce a wider range of protective effects, because different nodes in the network have many non-overlapping targets. Indeed, joint inhibition of mTOR, MEK and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) by rapamycin, trametinib and ...
Feb 8 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
‘This change will save more than $4bn a year’ means two things: firstly, enormous disruption, you can’t just remove such a huge chunk of budget without stuff you didn’t think of breaking; and secondly, a whopping $12 per American! Great value for so much destruction! Whatever you think of the efficiency of NIH, one day lopping almost 10% off an organisation is not the way to go about efficient reform.

Currently, the US leads the world in biomedical research. I genuinely hope that continues.
Jun 20, 2024 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
This picture doesn’t make me cringe, @seanpk—I’m an aging biology expert, and it makes me genuinely worry that you’re shortening your own life!

If this picture doesn’t worry you, you need to understand the science behind my concerns…

A thread 🧵 The problem is simple: interactions.

If you take 40 supplements daily, even if every one of them has cast-iron solid proof that it will make you live longer, be stronger and stay healthy, you don’t know how this cocktail will work together in your body—and the odds are, badly.
Jan 4, 2024 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
I’ve not checked in with Bryan Johnson for a while (because he blocked me), but now I do—surprise, surprise, he’s monetising Blueprint!

The website that used to show his protocol is now a store…let’s take a look at some of the products. blueprint.bryanjohnson.com
Screenshot of the website, showing a range of products which will be described in a bit more detail in the coming tweets… First up, ‘Essential’ Capsules.

What do these contain? The web page claims ‘clinical trial equivalent doses’ of various vitamins and things. The doses aren’t actually specified, but what do the clinical trials say?
A bottle of ‘Essential Capsules’
Ingredient list: Clinical trial equivalent doses Vitamin D: Bone health, immune support Vitamin E: Antioxidant, skin health Thiamin: Energy metabolism, nerve function Riboflavin: Cell growth, energy production Niacin: Heart health, skin health Vitamin B6: Metabolism, cognitive function Vitamin B12: Nerve health, red blood cells Biotin: Skin, hair, and nail health Pantothenic Acid: Energy metabolism, skin health Calcium: Bone health, muscle function Iodine: Thyroid function, metabolism Zinc: Immune support, wound healing Selenium: Antioxidant, thyroid health Manganese: Bone health, metaboli...
May 3, 2023 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Speaking of rapamycin…this article is a great summary

@KristerKauppi’s quote highlights a challenge we’ll all need to grapple with when it comes to medicines for aging—we’ll never have that perfect 100-year trial, so at what level of risk/benefit trade-off do you pop the pills? I’m 37 and don’t take rapamycin…1/1000 odds of death per year are low enough that I don’t mind waiting for a bit for more evidence to come in, plus evidence in mice suggests you can start rapa pretty late (~60 in human years) get most of the benefit so I’m not in a hurry.
May 3, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Great piece on the ageing of the ovaries from @emilylmullin!

‘The fact that the ovaries age so much faster than other body tissues also makes them a valuable way to test anti-aging drugs…which could have implications for aging in both women and men.’ wired.com/story/aging-me… Hormones and ageing generally is a fascinating area. Where ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone seem to keep women healthy, testosterone may bring about early death in us men—the most compelling evidence being the impressive lifespan of eunuchs! science.org/content/articl…
May 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Nice thread summarising a recent paper on how we acquire mutations throughout life, how they might influence the ageing process, and what we can do about it I (perhaps obviously!) think the ‘what we can do about it’ part is the most exciting. Either learn from other animals that have a much lower rate of DNA mutations: learn from other species, learn from our own egg and sperm cells, or eliminate mutated cells
Apr 28, 2023 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
LOL, so after I posted a few tweets suggesting Bryan Johnson (net worth $400m) should stump up the cash to actually do clinical trials before offering his ‘Blueprint’ as a product…the big man blocked me.

Seems he managed to turn back his Twitter-age to ‘man-child’… Screenshot of Bryan Johnson’s Twitter page. ‘You’re blocked’, it explains. Longevity ‘science’ has a chequered history of quacks and charlatans offering ‘elixirs’ made from mercury, or sewing monkey testicles to clients promising extended virility.

Shedding this reputation is why it’s vital that modern longevity actual-science is squeaky-clean.
Apr 28, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
High blood pressure has no symptoms and is incredibly common—even a few percent of 16–24 year-olds have it, according to this story!

Get you blood pressure checked!

Here’s why (short thread…) bbc.com/news/health-65… Every time your heart beats at too high a pressure, it puts strain on your circulation—from big blood vessels, where it can increase the risk of cholesterol getting stuck in the walls and starting the process of ‘atherosclerosis’ which can cause heart attacks and stroke…
Mar 7, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I had a lot of fun doing a second @guardianclasses Masterclass on the science of ageing last week!

We run polls during the class, and the results can be intriguing. Here’s one where I asked what the ideal life expectancy would be from a societal perspective… Me talking in front of text reading The Science of AgeingPoll results: What’s the ideal lifespan societally? Most p Those are combined results from two classes—and, even though it’s a sample of people who’d turn up to a masterclass on ageing biology, there’s still a perception that the ideal life expectancy would be perhaps a little bit higher than now…but not too much?
Mar 1, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Seen on the Tube: this ad showing that Randox, whose brand identity basically exists because of covid testing contracts, are now moving into shonky consumer wellness tracking. Advert with a man holding his phone displaying Randox ‘Eve Wow. £295!! Essentially to have the opportunity to be worried and have some tests to bother your NHS GP with. Webpage screenshot, showing the £295 price tag, and claimin
Feb 28, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Breaking news: flying still ridiculously bad for the environment.

This is a good, simple summary of our plane predicament, but very frustrating that it could’ve been written almost word for word twenty years ago or more… bbc.com/news/science-e… The only annoyance in the piece is this graph, which dramatically underplays the emissions difference by displaying emissions per kilometre. When was the last time you drove to Spain, or caught the bus to Australia?! Emissions per km of various...
Feb 27, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
That Cochrane Review that found no evidence that masks work was…a bit fishy?

Great piece by @KelseyTuoc which goes through the methodology, but also reveals that its author is…covid-eccentric? eg believes it was circulating for years pre-pandemic! vox.com/future-perfect… Incidentally, this is one place where one should place intuition (usually very low on the evidence pyramid) alongside meta-analysis (usually its pinnacle).

It would be absolutely shocking if well-fitted N95s weren’t protective in a healthcare setting—which this study found!
Feb 27, 2023 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
A bombastic @WSJ headline says covid most likely leaked from a lab. Just a few paragraphs in, it turns out that the new assessment is made with ‘low confidence’.

All of which means my video on this remains surprisingly relevant! (short thread) WSJ News Exclusive | Nati...he new report highlights ho... This is a great thread from @angie_rasmussen laying out the evidence:
Jan 24, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
People who had viral infections like flu are more likely to later be diagnosed with dementia.

Lots of caveats here (see next tweet), but I think future generations will be…surprised by our lackadaisical approach to common infections. nature.com/articles/d4158… Caveats: we don’t know whether the infections cause dementia or changes that lead to dementia make infection more likely; because this is based on medical records, only infections severe enough to merit a visit to the doctor get counted; data mainly people of European ancestry.
Jan 21, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
It’s nature we should thank!

Aren’t they gorgeous? :) A naked mole-rat looking, a... This is a fun thread about the sabre-toothed sausages:
Jan 20, 2023 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
HAVING A KID MAY AGE YOU BY 11 YEARS

?!?

The press coverage of this paper was absolutely terrible. As, to be fair, was this ridiculous section of the abstract.

Wouldn’t we have noticed if being a mum knocked a decade off your life expectancy?!?! academic.oup.com/humrep/article… WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS These findings in a nati The study looked at the length of the ‘protective caps’ on the end of our DNA, known as telomeres. These get shorter with age as our cells divide, and can also be shortened by other things like stress and smoking. People with shorter telomeres tend to die sooner. Uh-oh.
Jan 18, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
The world’s oldest person, Jeanne Calment, died on 4th August 1997, aged 122 years and 164 days.

She is a MASSIVE STATISTICAL OUTLIER.

So when will her record be broken?

A thread: Jeanne Calment pictured on ... I decided to do a simple statistical analysis on the world’s 50 oldest people. I did 10,000 random simulations.

The results:
• The most likely outcome—in 91% of simulations—is that NONE OF THESE PEOPLE BREAK HER RECORD.
Jan 18, 2023 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
The world’s oldest woman, French nun Lucile Randon, who survived both world wars, the 1919 flu pandemic, and even saw off a covid infection aged 117!!, died yesterday aged 118 years and 340 days.

RIP Sister Randon.

A thread… theguardian.com/society/2023/j… I don’t claim the gift of prophecy, but I called it a year ago: the record of world’s oldest person remains firmly with Jeanne Calment (122 years 164 days, died in 1997).
Jan 17, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
How do you propose we increase lifespan without also increasing quality of life and reducing cognitive impairment, @elonmusk?

It’s diseases and frailty that both reduce quality of life and kill us! And, in the lab, treatments that make animals live longer make them healthier too Calorie restriction—everything from yeast and worms to mice live longer and healthier.

Drugs like rapamycin given to old mice reduce disease, frailty and cognitive decline as well as extending life.

And humans who make it to 100+ live independently until they’re 100 on average!
Jan 16, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
More interesting evidence that lithium might extend lifespans?

‘Lithium can extend lifespan in animal models. Lithium in drinking water is correlated with human longevity. We find patients taking lithium have 3.5× lower chances of dying at a given age.’ aging-us.com/article/204476… This is a study from the always-fascinating UK Biobank (long live projects designed to collect huge amounts of data and link it to thousands of medical records!).

Lithium is sometimes used as a therapy for depression, so they looked at patients with mood disorders taking it.