Triple drug therapy can significantly extend the life span of fruit flies

, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- An international team of researchers has found that a combination of three known drugs can significantly extend the life span of fruit flies, which could help in human anti-aging research. But the researchers stress that the study is a long way from developing effective human anti-aging therapies.
In a paper published in the new issue of the National
Journal, researchers at University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Aging Biology in Germany say the three drugs are lithium-based mood stabilizer, cancer drug romycin and immune system regulator repamycin.
previous experiments with fruit flies have shown that all three drugs have some effect on extending life expectancy. New research shows that one of these drugs alone can increase the life span of fruit flies by an average of 11 percent, while the use of three drugs can greatly enhance the effect, can increase the life span of fruit flies by 48 percent.
researchers say the three drugs act on different cellular signaling paths, which together form a nutrient-sensing network that allows the body to respond to changes in nutritional levels, slowing aging. There are complementary benefits to the use of three drugs, such as lithium, which inhibits the side effects of repamycin.Linda Partridge, lead researcher on the
project and a professor at University College London, said there was growing evidence that low-dose multidrive combinations were effective in avoiding aging-related diseases, a finding that could help explore the body's anti-aging mechanisms, but that there was still a long way to go before effective anti-aging therapies could be developed for humans.