A recent study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine offers new hope for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a common sleep disorder that affects nearly a billion people worldwide.
Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and other institutions have found that a new treatment approach might go beyond just helping people breathe better—it could actually undo some of the damage caused by the disorder.
OSA happens when the airway gets blocked during sleep, causing repeated pauses in breathing. This condition not only disrupts sleep but is also linked to faster aging and serious health problems like heart disease, memory loss, and metabolic disorders.
The usual treatment for OSA is a machine called CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), which keeps the airway open during sleep. While CPAP helps improve breathing and reduce sleepiness, it doesn’t fix all the health problems linked to OSA—especially the long-term effects on the heart, brain, and metabolism.
That’s why Dr. David Gozal and his team looked at a new idea: what if they combined CPAP-like effects with a drug that targets aging cells? These drugs, known as senolytics, are designed to clear out old, damaged cells that build up in the body and contribute to aging and disease. One such drug is called Navitoclax (NAV).
To test this idea, the researchers used mice that had been exposed to low oxygen levels over and over—a condition that mimics what happens in people with OSA. They then gave some of the mice a senolytic drug and also let them recover with normal oxygen levels, simulating the way CPAP would work when used properly.
The results were promising. The mice that received both the drug and the simulated CPAP-like treatment showed big improvements. They were more alert during their normal rest time, performed better on memory tasks, and showed fewer signs of aging in their cells. These benefits were not seen in mice that only received the CPAP-like treatment without the drug.
Dr. Gozal says this shows that just treating the breathing problem isn’t enough—OSA appears to cause lasting changes in the body that need extra help to reverse. The senolytic drug seems to help undo those effects by targeting aging at the cellular level.
Dr. Mohammad Badran, who was also involved in the study, added that while CPAP is helpful, it doesn’t stop all the damage that OSA causes. That’s why using a drug like Navitoclax alongside CPAP might be a more effective way to treat the condition.
The combined treatment also helped improve how well the heart’s arteries worked, boosted metabolism, and even reduced “leaky gut” problems—when harmful substances escape from the gut into the bloodstream. In other words, the treatment didn’t just help the mice sleep better—it also helped them be healthier.
This study opens up a new way of thinking about sleep apnea treatment. The researchers now plan to develop safe versions of these drugs for human use and test them in clinical trials to see if people with OSA will benefit in the same way.
If you or someone you know suffers from sleep problems, this research is worth paying attention to. It not only points to a potential new treatment for sleep apnea, but it also highlights the deeper effects that sleep disorders can have on the body—and how we might begin to undo that damage.
The findings may lead to a future where treating OSA means more than just managing breathing—it could also mean slowing down the aging process and protecting the body’s major organs.
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