Researchers at the Institut Català d'Oncologia (ICO-IDIBGI) have discovered that a drug usually used to treat diabetes, metformin, is able to directly regulate the molecular machinery of aging, and could become the first therapy capable of delaying the appearanceof diseases associated with aging, including cancer, and chronic.
The study, published in the 'Aging Cell' magazine, has detected that metformin increases the global levels of an epigenetic "label" that promotes that DNA protects against malignant tumors and slows aging.
ICO researchers at the Biomedical Research Institute of Girona Josep Trueta (IDIBGI) have combined bioinformatic technologies based on artificial intelligence and validation experiments in cells and samples from animals and cancer patients.
They have demonstrated for the first time that metformin is able to inhibit an enzyme-the KDM6/UTX demethylase-and increase the global levels of the epigenetic label-the H3K27ME3-.
Metformin is a drug marketed for more than 60 years for the treatment of type II diabetes, and observational studies have linked their use in diabetic patients with a lower risk of suffering from chronic medical conditions associated with aging, including cardiovascular diseases,Neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.
Currently the scientific community debates if metformin exerts its healthy effects indirectly or interacting directly with the molecular mechanisms that regulate aging: "In this scenario, we decidedSystematic, new possible targets of metformin, "explained the director of the study, Javier Menendez.
The use of the Computer Software tools of the Mind The Byte company allowed the discovery of 41 new possible metformin targets, among which they found the one that concludes the study.