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Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging

The increase in our molecular understanding of the biology of aging, coupled with a recent surge in investment, has led to the formation of several companies developing pharmaceuticals to slow aging. Research using the tiny nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans was the first to show that mutations in...

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Autores principales: Weinkove, David, Zavagno, Giulia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35821999
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.740582
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author Weinkove, David
Zavagno, Giulia
author_facet Weinkove, David
Zavagno, Giulia
author_sort Weinkove, David
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description The increase in our molecular understanding of the biology of aging, coupled with a recent surge in investment, has led to the formation of several companies developing pharmaceuticals to slow aging. Research using the tiny nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans was the first to show that mutations in single genes can extend lifespan, and subsequent research has shown that this model organism is uniquely suited to testing interventions to slow aging. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, C. elegans is not in the standard toolkit of longevity companies. Here we discuss the paths to overcome the barriers to using C. elegans in industrial drug discovery. We address the predictive power of C. elegans for human aging, how C. elegans research can be applied to specific challenges in the typical drug discovery pipeline, and how standardised and quantitative assays will help C. elegans fulfil its potential in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. We argue that correct application of this model and its knowledge base will significantly accelerate progress to slow human aging.
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spelling pubmed-92614502022-07-11 Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging Weinkove, David Zavagno, Giulia Front Aging Aging The increase in our molecular understanding of the biology of aging, coupled with a recent surge in investment, has led to the formation of several companies developing pharmaceuticals to slow aging. Research using the tiny nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans was the first to show that mutations in single genes can extend lifespan, and subsequent research has shown that this model organism is uniquely suited to testing interventions to slow aging. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, C. elegans is not in the standard toolkit of longevity companies. Here we discuss the paths to overcome the barriers to using C. elegans in industrial drug discovery. We address the predictive power of C. elegans for human aging, how C. elegans research can be applied to specific challenges in the typical drug discovery pipeline, and how standardised and quantitative assays will help C. elegans fulfil its potential in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. We argue that correct application of this model and its knowledge base will significantly accelerate progress to slow human aging. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9261450/ /pubmed/35821999 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.740582 Text en Copyright © 2021 Weinkove and Zavagno. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Aging
Weinkove, David
Zavagno, Giulia
Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title_full Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title_fullStr Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title_full_unstemmed Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title_short Applying C. elegans to the Industrial Drug Discovery Process to Slow Aging
title_sort applying c. elegans to the industrial drug discovery process to slow aging
topic Aging
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35821999
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.740582
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