# Center for Testing Potential Anti-Aging Interventions

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · 2024 · $1,546,778

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Identification of small molecules that extend mouse lifespan provides new insights into mechanisms of
longevity determination in mammals, and may lay the groundwork for eventual anti-aging therapies in humans.
The NIA Interventions Testing Program (ITP) evaluates agents proposed to extend mouse lifespan by
retardation of aging or postponement of late life diseases. Interventions proposed by multiple collaborating
scientists from the research community are tested, in parallel, at three sites (Jackson Laboratories, University
of Michigan and University of Texas), using very similar, standardized protocols, and using sufficient numbers
of genetically heterogeneous mice to provide 80% power for detecting changes in lifespan of 10%, for either
sex, after pooling data from any two of the test sites. One hundred and two such lifespan experiments,
involving various doses of 66 distinct agents, have been initiated in the first twenty years of the ITP. Thirty-six
experiments have involved comparative tests of multiple doses of effective agents, variable starting ages, or
alternative dosing schedules. Statistically significant effects on longevity, in one or both sexes, have been
documented and then confirmed for NDGA, rapamycin, acarbose, 17-α-estradiol (17aE2), and canagliflozin.
Significant effects were also noted for Protandim, glycine, meclizine, captopril, and astaxanthin. Lifespan trials
are now underway for 25 new agents. ITP survival results have also documented longevity benefits from four
agents started in middle-age: rapamycin, acarbose, 17aE2, and canagliflozin. A Collaborative Interactions
Program (CIP) has provided tissues from ITP drug-treated mice to an open, growing, international network of
scientific collaborators, meeting 26 requests from 17 distinct laboratories in the previous five-year period. Plans
for the next five-year period include additional lifespan ("Stage 1") trials, detailed analyses ("Stage 2") of
agents found to increase lifespan, transition from the CIP to an Interventions Biospecimens Repository,
additional diagnostic specificity in pathological assessments, inclusion of RNA-Seq data in all Stage 2
protocols, and comprehensive pharmacokinetic assessments of drugs found to increase lifespan, as well as
continued collaborative work with a network of scientists to study drug effects on postulated aging mechanisms
and links to disease. Site-specific Stage 2 studies at UT will add pharmacokinetic analyses in young and old
mice, tests to determine mechanisms underlying sex-differences of successful Stage 1 compounds, and tests
to determine effects on metabolism of successful Stage 1 compounds. The work proposed should allow the
ITP to continue to make major contributions to mammalian aging biology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10882350
- **Project number:** 2U01AG022307-21
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** RANDY STRONG
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,546,778
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2004-04-15 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10882350

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10882350, Center for Testing Potential Anti-Aging Interventions (2U01AG022307-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10882350. Licensed CC0.

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