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It is a sad fact that dogs do not live as long as we would like. the average dog lives about 8 to 15 years, and large breeds have a shorter life expectancy than smaller breeds. Our canine friends manage to provide a lot of love during those years, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a way to keep them alive and healthy for much longer? There may be soon.
Scientists are working to develop medications that could extend the lifespan and health of dogs. Late last year, Loyal, a San Francisco biotech company, Announced that the Food and Drug Administration had granted what is known in drug regulation jargon as a “reasonable expectation of effectiveness” for a drug the company has in development.
If effective, the drug would extend the lifespan of large breed dogs. The FDA’s decision is not about approving the drug, but it is an important step toward that goal.
Variations in the life expectancy of dogs
In the blog post about the FDA decision, Celine Halioua, CEO of Loyal, explained that the variation in life expectancy seen in dogs is unusual. It is rare to have such a disparity in life expectancy within a species. The reason is due, at least in part, to the “selective breeding process that ‘created’ these dog breeds,” she wrote.
Dogs bred to be large developed especially high levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor one), a hormone that drives cell growth. Loyal’s new drug reduces IGF-1 signaling. The company hopes this will slow aging.
The mechanism makes sense, he says Matt Kaeberlein, biogerontologist and founder and co-director of The Dog Aging Project. “It is almost certain that if you take a large dog and reject IGF-1 during development, you will get a dog that will live longer. But you would also get a smaller dog. “The question is whether longevity benefits can be gained by starting treatment in middle age.”
He adds that there is some data obtained in laboratory animals (mainly mice) that supports this claim.
Read more: Do selective breeding practices harm dogs?
Are there any side effects of IGF-1?
But what about the possible side effects? Kaeberlein sees a couple of potential problems. IGF-1 is involved in muscle growth and bone density, so suppressing the hormone could possibly lead to reduced muscle mass or bone density, although he adds that this is just speculation at this time. Loyal will have to conduct safety studies as part of the approval process.
Not all possible side effects are bad. “We know that IGF-1 is a risk factor for cancer and many dogs die from cancer,” says Kaeberlein. “So even if it has no effect on biological aging, the drug could offer a benefit in terms of cancer reduction.”
Meanwhile, the Dog Aging Project is following about 50,000 dogs in a longitudinal study of aging. The dogs live with their owners at home and the project team collects data on the animals’ lives, including genome sequences from some of the participants. The goal is to identify the most important genetic and environmental factors that influence aging and health as animals age.
A subset of Dog Aging Project dogs are participating in a randomized controlled clinical trial of rapamycin, a drug used to treat some cancers and prevent organ rejection in transplant patients. Research has shown the drug can slow aging in some species, and the study is designed to see if it has that effect in dogs.
No matter the breed, we lose our dogs too soon. If these studies are successful, we may be able to keep them a little longer.
Read more: The drug that could one day help people (and dogs) live longer
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