SINGAPORE: Experts from the Duke-NUS Medical School have discovered a peptide that actively promotes age.
Their study showed that as the body ages, organs express increasing levels of the interleukin-11 ( IL-11 ) protein.
Raised levels cause the heart and stomach to accumulate fat and build up, which are the hallmarks of ageing, and decrease muscle mass and strength.
Therefore, blocking this protein may be able to slow down age and prolong good lives.
According to Assistant Professor Anissa Widjaja from the Duke-NUS Medical School’s Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders Programme,” Ageing is driven by a tiny set of valves that get more and more effective as we get older.”
On Thursday ( Jul 19 ), she told CNA’s Singapore Tonight that if we could turn off one or more of these ( switches ), it would help our cells function more youthfully.  ,
” And, IL-11 is one of these valves”.
THE Finding
Prof Widjaja, who is the first and co-corresponding author of the study, said the revelation was “pure success and serendipity”.
While conducting another study on the cell’s role in causing increased bruising in the heart and kidneys, her group received tissue samples from various age groups in 2017.
They discovered that as you get older, your body’s ranges of IL-11 rise.
” I was pretty confused in the beginning. We could n’t find any possible role of IL-11 in ageing in ( published literature )”, she recalled.
” During age, you have more cells swelling, inflammation, and a reduction in your heart’s ability to heal, repair and heal after injury”, she said.
Her team concluded that the proteins might play a vital role in the ageing process because IL-11 causes related responses in the body, according to her research.