A new study from the University of Auckland has revealed a surprising possibility: a drug currently used to treat cancer may also help extend life. Scientists found that healthy middle-aged mice given this drug lived about 10% longer than normal. This adds another piece to the puzzle in the ongoing search to understand aging and how we might live healthier, longer lives.
The drug in question is called alpelisib. It’s normally used to treat certain types of cancer by targeting a specific enzyme in the body called PI 3-kinase.
This enzyme plays a role in how cells grow and survive, and it has been a major target in cancer research for over two decades. Many cancers have an overactive version of this enzyme, so turning it off or slowing it down can help stop cancer cells from spreading.
In this study, researchers gave healthy mice a normal diet or a diet with alpelisib added, starting when the mice were about one year old—which is considered middle-aged for mice.
The mice that received alpelisib lived longer, averaging three years of life, compared to about 2.7 years in the control group. That difference may not sound like much, but in terms of biology and drug research, it’s a big deal.
What’s even more interesting is that these longer-living mice didn’t just survive longer—they also showed signs of staying healthier in old age.
They had better coordination and muscle strength, which are often among the first things to decline as animals (and humans) get older. This means the drug didn’t just add more years to life—it may have added more life to those years.
However, the story isn’t all good news. The mice also showed some signs of unhealthy aging, like lower bone mass. So while alpelisib might help with some aspects of aging, it may also make others worse.
That’s why the scientists behind the study are being careful. They are not recommending that people start taking this drug in hopes of living longer. Like many medications, alpelisib can have serious side effects and is not approved for general use outside of cancer treatment.
Still, this study offers something valuable. It shows that aging can be influenced by certain biological pathways, and that targeting these pathways might help prevent or delay some age-related diseases.
The researchers are now looking into whether alpelisib, or drugs like it, could be used in short-term treatments to help manage certain health problems related to aging and metabolism.
This work also highlights how research done for one purpose—like treating cancer—can sometimes lead to discoveries in entirely different areas. The fact that a cancer drug might one day help people stay healthier as they age shows the power of long-term investment in science.
The study was led by Dr. Chris Hedges and published in Nature Aging. While this research doesn’t provide a magic pill for a longer life, it does move us one step closer to understanding how we age—and how we might age better.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about a new method to treat cancer effectively, and this low-dose, four-drug combo may block cancer spread.
For more information about cancer prevention, please see recent studies about nutrient in fish that can be a poison for cancer, and results showing this daily vitamin is critical to cancer prevention.
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