3 replies to this topic

[wootwoot]

Has anyone heard of this drug? I have heard great things on its ability to prevent and even reverse aging but have not read about it in this forum. Does anyone know of some scientific studies or where to get this? Nevermind I did just find some info in this forum on this, but still does anyone know where to find it?

[saxiephon]

Anti-Aging Molecule Discovered


By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

A team of South Korean scientists on Sunday claimed to have created a ``cellular fountain of youth,’’ or a small molecule, which enables human cells to avoid aging and dying.

The team, headed by Prof. Kim Tae-kook at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, argued the newly-synthesized molecule, named CGK733, can even make cells younger.

The findings were featured by the Britain-based Nature Chemical Biology online early today and will be printed as a cover story in the journal’s offline edition early next month.

``All cells face an inevitable death as they age. On this path, cells became lethargic and in the end stop dividing but we witnessed that CGK733 can block the process,’’ Kim said.

``We also found the synthetic compound can reverse aging, by revitalizing already-lethargic cells. Theoretically, this can give youth to the elderly via rejuvenating cells,’’ the 41-year-old said.

Kim expected that the CGK733-empowered drugs that keep cells youthful far beyond their normal life span would be commercialized in less than 10 years.

Other researchers here heaped praises on the discovery but they were cautious about the practical therapeutic application of the new substance.

``Obviously, it is an innovative finding. But we need to see whether or not CGK733 could really rejuvenate cells inside human bodies without generating side effects,’’ Prof. Kim Sung-hoon at Seoul National University said.

Prof. Kim Tae-kook, however, is confident about the commercial viability of CGK733, believing the efficiency of the material was created using state-of-the-art magnetic nano-probe technology.

``We have the magnet-associated technology to identify molecular targets inside living cells, which allowed us to examine the mechanisms of CGK733 directly,’’ Kim said.

``Unlike other research teams that must make candidates materials for drugs without being able to see their intra-cell activities, we know the precise mechanism of CGK733. So we have the better chance of making a success of the substance,’’ he continued.

Indeed, Kim basked in global recognition last June when he and his associates developed a technology dubbed MAGIC, short for magnetism-based interactive capture.

MAGIC uses fluorescent materials to check whether any drug can mix with targeted proteins inside the cell. The results were globally recognized by being printed by the U.S.-based journal Science at the time.

``MAGIC is kind of a source technology to see inside cells. Based on the method, we also found a pair of promising substances that can deal with cancers,’’ Kim said.


voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
06-12-2006

[niner]

Here is a writeup from Chemical & Engineering News. Go to http://pubs.acs.org/.../8425notw4.html for some pictures and the structure. From the looks of the structure, it is rather hydrophobic and unlikely to be very bioavailable in vivo. It is certainly interesting as a tool compound and possible lead. It raises the question of "will a drug company invest development money (lots of it) in a drug for which the only application is 'curing aging'?" Ya know, like who the hell would want that? (I am baffled by this attitude...)

June 19, 2006 Volume 84, Number 25 p. 15
Chemical Biology
Aging Cells Get New Lease On Life
Small molecule is found to extend lifetime of mammalian cells
Sarah Everts
We all face the inevitable, but new research is giving some cells a second chance. Korean researchers have found a complex thiourea derivative that can extend the lifetime of mammalian cells and reverse cellular aging.

CGK733 was discovered by screening a library of 20,000 synthetic molecules for their effects on aging cells (Nat. Chem. Biol., published online June 11, dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio800). Tae Kook Kim and colleagues at Korea's Advanced Institute of Science & Technology report that CGK733 can extend the lifetime of cultured cells by approximately 20 divisions, or roughly 25%.

Biologists often call cell aging "senescence," a term that describes the physical and biochemical signs of a cell's deterioration toward death. These signals include a cessation of cell division, release of chemicals from the cell informing others of its impending demise, and an increase in the girth of the cell.

CGK733 is the first small molecule that can reverse aspects of cell senescence. Genetic techniques have been used to do so in the past. But what makes CGK733 unique is that its antiaging properties are reversible: When CGK733 is removed, cells return to normal aging and death.

This feature makes CGK733 more of a dimmer switch than an on/off switch and gives the molecule potential as a drug lead, Kim says. "Knocking out a protein's function entirely can lead to terrible side effects. The dimmer switch characteristic provides a window for dosage."

Kim hopes CGK733's antiaging properties will be useful in wound healing, antiaging cosmetics, and tissue engineering, a focus of current experimentation in his laboratory. His research team is now working on in vivo studies of the compound in animal models.

"There aren't any drugs out there that can reverse cellular senescence," says Steve Jackson, head of Cancer Research UK at the University of Cambridge. "This could be the tip of the iceberg for a whole range of studies over the next decade which might start delivering compounds that might delay, or one day reverse, some aspects of aging."

Jackson cautions that long-term health impacts of CGK733 need to be evaluated, as well as the compound's impact on other cell types and in animal models. CGK733 works by blocking a protein checkpoint involved in sensing and slowing down cells in response to DNA damage. Although Kim showed that cells whose aging was reversed by CGK733 didn't develop chromosomal abnormalities, the long-term effect of blocking DNA repair mechanisms could lead to cancer.

Cellular senescence researcher Judith Campisi of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says CGK733 will be a good lab tool for biologists. "CGK733 is an example of what many scientists hope will be a trend: the identification of small molecules to mimic more cumbersome genetic interventions to regulate cellular behavior."

[tintinet]

ISTM focus upon aging qua aging rather than focus upon specific disease therapy is looked upon as rather self-centered and perhaps "unnatural" rather than "humanitarian" by the "collective ego" of our society.