The NIA Interventions Testing Program represents a multi-site translational research program to evaluate agents hypothesized to extend mouse lifespan by retardation of aging or postponement of late life diseases. Interventions proposed by multiple collaborating scientists from the research community are initially tested, in parallel, at three sites (Jackson Laboratories, Michigan and Texas), using identical, standardized protocols, and using sufficient numbers of genetically heterogeneous mice to provide 80% power for detecting changes in lifespan of 10%, for either sex, after pooling data from any two of the test sites. Eighteen such 'Phase I'trials have been started in the first four years of the ITP, with 4-5 new agents tested in each annual cycle. Two agents tested in the first annual mouse cohort, aspirin and NDGA, produced significant increases in survival of male mice. Rapamycin, given to mice at 20 months of age and then evaluated at a point (Dec 1, 2008) where 92% of 867 female mice, and 96% of 1098 male mice from Cohort 2 had died, produced robust lifespan increases with p <0.0001 for males and p <0.0001 for females, with significant parallel results at all three sites. Rapamycin treatment also led to a significant increase in maximum lifespan both in males and in females (p <0.001 in each sex). Rapamycin also shows a beneficial effect when initiated at 9 months of age, in a Cohort 3 study now reaching the median survival age, significant in both male (p = 0.008) and female (p = 0.0001) mice. Plans for the next five years include completion of all ongoing Phase I trials and initiation of three or more new Phase I trials each year. In addition, a more elaborate Phase II study of Rapamycin will evaluate the effects of varying doses of this agent on survival, test a range of age-sensitive traits and proposed mechanistic pathways, document cross-sectional pathology, and provide mice and tissues for analyses by others. Each of the three laboratories has experience in lifespan and biomarker analysis in mice, and in addition will bring special expertise to the collaboration: measures of age-sensitive traits at the Jackson Laboratory, pathology and statistical analysis at Michigan, and pharmacology/toxicology at Texas.

Public Health Relevance

Identification of agents that can extend mean and/or maximum longevity in genetically heterogeneous mice in multiple laboratories will suggest research directions leading to clinical treatments designed to prevent or retard deleterious changes with age. In addition, identifying health dangers of unproven treatments that are purported to have anti-aging actions will also have public health benefits.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
5U01AG022303-10
Application #
8490259
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAG1-ZIJ-2 (M2))
Program Officer
Sierra, Felipe
Project Start
2003-07-01
Project End
2014-06-30
Budget Start
2013-07-15
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$576,010
Indirect Cost
$215,788
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Garratt, Michael; Lagerborg, Kim A; Tsai, Yi-Miau et al. (2018) Male lifespan extension with 17-? estradiol is linked to a sex-specific metabolomic response modulated by gonadal hormones in mice. Aging Cell :e12786
Bielas, Jason; Herbst, Allen; Widjaja, Kevin et al. (2018) Long term rapamycin treatment improves mitochondrial DNA quality in aging mice. Exp Gerontol 106:125-131
Altschuler, R A; Kanicki, A; Martin, C et al. (2018) Rapamycin but not acarbose decreases age-related loss of outer hair cells in the mouse Cochlea. Hear Res 370:11-15
Nadon, Nancy L; Strong, Randy; Miller, Richard A et al. (2017) NIA Interventions Testing Program: Investigating Putative Aging Intervention Agents in a Genetically Heterogeneous Mouse Model. EBioMedicine 21:3-4
Dominick, Graham; Bowman, Jacqueline; Li, Xinna et al. (2017) mTOR regulates the expression of DNA damage response enzymes in long-lived Snell dwarf, GHRKO, and PAPPA-KO mice. Aging Cell 16:52-60
Cole, John J; Robertson, Neil A; Rather, Mohammed Iqbal et al. (2017) Diverse interventions that extend mouse lifespan suppress shared age-associated epigenetic changes at critical gene regulatory regions. Genome Biol 18:58
Bajwa, Preety; Nielsen, Sarah; Lombard, Janine M et al. (2017) Overactive mTOR signaling leads to endometrial hyperplasia in aged women and mice. Oncotarget 8:7265-7275
An, Jonathan Y; Quarles, Ellen K; Mekvanich, Surapat et al. (2017) Rapamycin treatment attenuates age-associated periodontitis in mice. Geroscience 39:457-463
Berkowitz, Bruce A; Miller, Richard A; Roberts, Robin (2017) Genetically heterogeneous mice show age-related vision deficits not related to increased rod cell L-type calcium channel function in vivo. Neurobiol Aging 49:198-203
Garratt, Michael; Bower, Brian; Garcia, Gonzalo G et al. (2017) Sex differences in lifespan extension with acarbose and 17-? estradiol: gonadal hormones underlie male-specific improvements in glucose tolerance and mTORC2 signaling. Aging Cell 16:1256-1266

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