AGING Klotho for Eternal Youth?

A defect in Klotho gene expression in mice leads to a syndrome resembling aging. Kurosu et al. (see the news story by Couzin) now find that Klotho overexpression extends life span in mice. Klotho protein functions as a circulating hormone that binds to a cell-surface receptor and suppresses insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling in an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for extending life span in worms, flies, and mice. Furthermore, perturbing insulin/IGF-1 signaling slows aging in Klotho-deficient mice. Thus, it appears that Klotho protein may function as an anti-aging hormone.

H. Kurosu, M. Yamamoto, J. D. Clark, J. V. Pastor, A. Nandi, P. Gurnani, O. P. McGuinness, H. Chikuda, M. Yamaguchi, H. Kawaguchi, I. Shimomura, Y. Takayama, J. Herz, C. R. Kahn, K. P. Rosenblatt, M. Kuro-o, Suppression of aging in mice by the hormone Klotho. Science 309, 1829-1833 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]

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