OHIO research team explores the science of longevity and wellness
Graduate student Silvana Duran Ortiz and 蜜柚视频 Distinguished Professor John Kopchick take a closer look at the mechanisms behind healthy aging. Photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC 鈥02
Scientists, policymakers, public health experts, and senior citizen advocates worldwide are concerned about wellness among a rapidly aging population. We may be living longer, but we spend more of those later years saddled with disease and debilitation, notes 蜜柚视频 Distinguished Professor John Kopchick.
Kopchick and his team of researchers at 蜜柚视频鈥檚 Edison Biotechnology Institute and Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine have been exploring biological mechanisms that could help people age in good health. The scientist, who has a successful background in drug development, is determined to build on his lab鈥檚 decades of scientific research on growth hormone, cancer, diabetes, and aging to find a new therapy that could be a game changer for the golden years.
Kopchick came to aging research on an unexpected path: The scientist is internationally known for discovering how to block growth hormone action in the body. The 1987 breakthrough led to the development of the Pfizer drug SOMAVERT庐, which is designed to treat adults with acromegaly, a form of gigantism that can pose serious health problems.
To study the role and action of growth hormone, Kopchick and his team of scientists work with genetically modified laboratory mice that lack normal growth hormone receptors. The animals are, as one might expect, smaller than the average mouse. But the researchers were surprised to discover that the mice had other unique aspects to their biology.
鈥淭hese animals were very obese but didn鈥檛 get diabetes,鈥 says Kopchick, the Goll-Ohio Professor of Molecular Biology in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. 鈥淎s we continued, we also found that they were very resistant to cancers.鈥
The scientists were just as amazed to realize that these mice were reaching 3 陆 years of age or more. The average mouse typically lives to be 2 陆 years old, Kopchick explains.
鈥淲e found that they lived longer whether they were male or female,鈥 he adds, and continued to show few signs of disease.
UNLOCKING LONGEVITY
The Kopchick lab began a series of studies on these mice to understand the mechanisms behind the animals鈥 unusual biology鈥攁nd the possible implications for human health. Kopchick sent the mice to fellow researchers in more than 15 countries so that other labs could examine these remarkable models of long, healthy lives.
蜜柚视频 Distinguished Professor John Kopchick and several members of his research team are pictured inside OHIO鈥檚 Edison Biotechnology Institute. They are (from left) John Kopchick, Reetobrata Basu (seated), Sam Mathes, Kevin Funk, Edward List, Silvana Duran Ortiz, and Alison Brittain. Photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC 鈥02
To promote research on aging, the scientific journal Nature created a Methuselah prize for the rodent with the greatest longevity. The 蜜柚视频 mouse nabbed the first award鈥攁nd years later still holds the record. This dwarf mouse died just short of its 5th birthday. 鈥淲e have the longest-lived laboratory mouse,鈥 Kopchick says.
Medical researchers often study the mechanisms of and possible therapies for disorders in laboratory mice before applying such findings to human subjects. But scientists already have seen how growth hormone can be a factor in disease prevalence by looking at a small population of people with Laron syndrome. These individuals lack growth hormone activity due to a genetic mutation. Like Kopchick鈥檚 mice, they are dwarf and obese鈥攂ut they also don鈥檛 get cancer or diabetes. In 2011, Kopchick co-edited a book on what scientists had learned about Laron syndrome from mice and human studies with Dr. Zvi Laron, the namesake of the medical condition and an internationally recognized leader in pediatric endocrinology. The next year, a French documentary film titled 鈥淪ecrets to a Long Life鈥 further raised the issue鈥檚 profile in the scientific community.
In 2013, Kopchick鈥檚 longevity research landed him an invitation to a meeting of 50 of the world鈥檚 experts on aging in Italy. The scientists identified the six most promising interventions for healthy aging, which included both dietary and drug treatments. Pharmacological inhibition of growth hormone