document: Study by Bay Area 's Buck Institute blazes trail for life span extension and disease treatments A new study by researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato validates a promising new approach for extending life span and treating age-related diseases . The study appears in the March 30 online edition of the prestigious scientific journal Nature . The study found that a dye , used in laboratories to detect Alzheimer 's disease , extended the life span of nematode worms by more than 50 percent and slowed the disease process in worms bred to mimic aspects of Alzheimer 's disease . The dye is also known as Thioflavin T. Nematodes make excellent subjects for research on aging . Researchers do n't have to wait long for results because the tiny worms live only two or three weeks normally , and the nematodes ' genetic code has been mapped . It was research on nematodes more than two decades ago that first revealed to scientists that the aging process could be extended via genetic mutations . It had long been believed that aging was an uncontrollable process of deterioration that could n't be altered by single genes . Since then , researchers at the Buck Institute and elsewhere have identified hundreds of genes that affect the life span of nematodes as well as compounds that can trigger the anti-aging effect . Until now , however , scientists did n't know the mechanism at work . '' `` What 's new and exciting about this study is we think we know what is going on , '' '' said Gordon Lithgow , the Buck faculty member who led the research study . The study highlights a process called protein homeostasis , the ability of an organism to maintain the proper structure and balance of its proteins , which are the building blocks of life . '' `` Proteins have a certain three-dimensional shape and if that shape is lost by clumping or other types of damage their function is lost as well , '' '' Lithgow said . '' `` This is well studied in relation to Alzheimer 's disease , Parkinson 's disease and other diseases . '' '' While many degenerative diseases have been linked to a breakdown in the process , genetic studies have long indicated that protein homeostasis is a major contributor to longevity in complex animals . '' `` We 've had a hunch for a long time that protein homeostasis would be a driving factor for normal aging , and I think that 's what we 're seeing here , '' '' Lithgow said of the study . '' `` Somehow these compounds slow the clumping of the proteins together and consequently that slows down normal aging . '' `` We have been looking for compounds that slow aging for more than 10 years and Thioflavin T is the best we have so far , '' '' Lithgow said . Aided by a $ 1.7 million grant from the Petaluma-based Larry L. Hillblom Foundation in 2007 , Buck Institute scientists tested 120,000 chemical compounds on yeast and nematode worms in search of compounds that would slow the aging process . But Thioflavin T was not part of that process , Lithgow said . Testing Thioflavin T was the idea of Silvestre Alavez , a staff scientist in the Lithgow lab . Alavez was trained in neuroscience and knew about the use of these compounds to detect disease-related proteins . Several other compounds he identified have also proven effective in increasing life span in worms . One of those is curcumin , the active ingredient in the popular Indian spice turmeric . '' `` People have been making claims about the health benefits of curcumin for many years , '' '' Alavez said . '' `` Maybe slowing aging is part of the mechanism of action . '' '' Curcumin is being tested in several human clinical trials for conditions ranging from colon cancer to rheumatoid arthritis to depression . Alavez said , '' `` Any small molecule that maintains protein homeostasis during aging could be active against multiple disease states . '' '' Follow-up research on Thioflavin T is underway at the Buck Institute in mice bred to have Alzheimer 's . One of the members of the research team that worked on the study was David Zucker , 23 , a Dominican University student who is working on his master 's degree . Zucker 's ambition is to become a physician and he is in the process of sending out applications to medical schools . Now he can mention that his name is attached to a study published by Nature . '' `` I lucked out , I guess , '' '' Zucker said . Contact Richard Halstead via e-mail at rhalstead@marinij.com
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