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The drugs are synthetic versions of resveratrol, found in red wine, an organic chemical believed to have an anti-aging effect, by boosting activity of a protein called SIRT1. GSK, the pharmaceutical firm, is testing them on people with particular medical conditions, namely Type II diabetes and psoriasis, a serious skin condition. David Sinclair, professor of genetics at Harvard University, said aging might not actually be an "irreversible affliction". He said: “Now we are looking at whether there are benefits for those who are already healthy. "Things there are also looking promising. We're finding that aging isn't the irreversible affliction that...

The pharmaceutical company Sirtris announced last month that it had halted the last of its clinical trials of resveratrol, the minor ingredient of red wine that some researchers see as a drug that can extend life. The decision signifies an apparent divergence of views on the merits of resveratrol between the current head of the company, which was bought by GlaxoSmithKline in 2008 for $720 million, and its founders. George Vlasuk, Sirtris’s chief executive, said in an interview last week that SRT501, Sirtris’s formulation of resveratrol, “was not an important part of the acquisition of Sirtris by GSK.” Resveratrol has...

Discovery could lead to new drugs to fight Alzheimer's, other neurological diseasesCAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The same molecular mechanism that increases life span through calorie restriction may help boost memory and brainpower, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the July 11 issue of Nature. Resveratrol, found in wine, has been touted as a life-span enhancer because it activates a group of enzymes known as sirtuins, which have gained fame in recent years for their ability to slow the aging process. Now MIT researchers report that Sirtuin1 — a protein that in humans is encoded by the...

Enlarge ImageTradeoff. The protein SIRT1 rushes to repair broken DNA in aging mammals like this mouse, but the shifting proteins (in red, inset) let gene expression go awry. Credit: Courtesy of Philipp Oberdoerffer/Harvard Medical School It seems there's just no way to beat Father Time. As we age, our chromosomes fracture, and specialized proteins rush in to reverse the damage. But new research shows that in doing so, these proteins inadvertently switch on genes that can contribute to aging, allowing senescence to march ever onward. The idea that a protein might patch up a rickety, aging chromosome is not...

A new insight into the reason for aging has been gained by scientists trying to understand how resveratrol, a minor ingredient of red wine, improves the health and lifespan of laboratory mice. They believe that the integrity of chromosomes is compromised as people age, and that resveratrol works by activating a protein known as sirtuin that restores the chromosomes to health. The finding, published online Wednesday in the journal Cell, is from a group led by David Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School. It is part of a growing effort by biologists to understand the sirtuins and other powerful agents...