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A newspaper article about our aging and longevity researches was published

A newspaper article about our aging and longevity researches was published in the Science Newspaper on January 31, 2025. We would like to inform you of the article with additional explanations below.

The newspaper article link.

TheThe newspaper online ilnk

In developed countries including Japan, the super-aging society is progressing, and the difference between average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (the period during which one can live independently in both body and mind in health, which is the average life expectancy minus the period of nursing care such as bedridden or dementia) is about 10 years, which is a major social and medical issue. Our company aims to elucidate cellular aging at the molecular level, and develop medicines to treat aging-related diseases and to extend healthy life expectancy. We have collaborated with Tohoku University and Northwestern University in the United States and have demonstrated the following series of findings.

  • Living cells cannot proliferate indefinitely due to a phenomenon called ‘cellular senescence’. This phenomenon involves the shortening of gene telomere length and cellular aging factors such as p53, p21, and p16. It has been found that senescent cells have extremely high expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 in addition to cellular aging factors. The PAI-1 inhibitor developed by our company, e.g., RS5614, suppresses p53, p21, and p16, and inhibits cellular senescence in cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells (Oncotarget, 2016).
  • The PAI-1 inhibitor developed by our company reduces DNA damage in fibroblasts of Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (designated intractable disease 333), a human premature aging disease, improves mitochondrial dysfunction, and corrects cellular abnormalities in Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (Cell Death and Disease, 2022).
  • It is known that PAI-1 expression is high not only in cells but also in aged tissues and individuals (mice and humans). In klotho mice, a well-known aging mouse model, we showed that PAI-1 inhibitor improves most, if not all the main symptoms of aging (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014).
  • In Amish people living in the United States, we confirmed that some of them were missing the PAI-1 gene. It was reported that these people who were missing the PAI-1 gene lived about 10 years longer than those who had the same gene (Science Advances, 2017). This epidemiological study in humans is consistent with the results of experiments in cells and mice. This fact was introduced in an article in the New York Times on November 21, 2017 (November 11, 2021).
  • As we age, various age related diseases develop, including cancer, blood vessels (arteriosclerosis), lungs (emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), metabolism (diabetes, obesity), kidneys (chronic kidney disease), bones and muscles (osteoporosis, sarcopenia), and the brain (cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia). Interestingly, PAI-1 expression is extremely high in organs affected by these diseases, and collaborative researches with many universities worldwide have revealed that our PAI-1 inhibitor can improve their pathologies (see the list of joint research results below).

We plan to open a Japanese laboratory of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute of Northwestern University within the TREx, our laboratory at Tohoku University. At this TREx-Longevity Lab, we plan to measure human biological age, analyze aging parameters of organs (immune system, neovascular system, nervous system, metabolic system, musculoskeletal system), and search for aging biomarkers (epigenome, proteome, transcriptome). We also plan to conduct clinical trials to evaluate our pharmaceutical products that control aging and extend healthy lifespan.

We have applied to the X PRIZE HEALTHSPAN, a contest run by the X PRIZE Foundation, known for lunar exploration contests, for a prize of $100 million if we can rejuvenate the cognition and muscles of elderly people by 10 years. Jamie Justice, director of the XPRIZE Foundation and head of the competition, said, “There has been tremendous growth in research into aging and longevity over the last decade. By starting this competition, we can show that this field is ripe for the taking. Our goal is to attract public attention, ensure that there is a place for investment in this new field, and create a common framework that gives scientists in academia, the nonprofit sector, and companies a runway for development”.

We will continue to develop our RS5614 to tackle aging towards longevity, one of humanity’s greatest challenges.

Pre-clinical studies on age-related disorders (published with our PAI-1 inhibitors)