Is there a (copper clad) silver bullet to slow aging?

Researchers have identified what they call “global instigators of aging and neurodegeneration” and a therapy that may slow down the damage they cause the body.

Scientists have found that cell-free chromatin particles (cfChPs) released by the billions of cells that die in the body every day enter healthy cells, causing damage to their DNA and activating apoptotic and inflammatory pathways, effectively speeding the aging process.

Now researchers in India have published a study that suggests these extra-cellular cfChPs can be deactivated by oxygen radicals that are generated by mixing the nutraceuticals resveratrol and copper (R–Cu).

Resveratrol is an antioxidant produced naturally in some plants. It exhibits antitumor activity and is considered a potential candidate for preventing and treating several types of cancer. Copper is key to many important enzymes involved in vital biological processes. It also appears to protect cells from oxidative damage.

The Indian study investigated whether prolonged administration of R–Cu would retard biological hallmarks of aging, the characteristics that are common denominators of maturation. The nine hallmarks are genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion and altered intercellular communication. 

The study found that cfChPs initiate a vicious cycle of more DNA damage, apoptosis and inflammation, resulting in a low-grade and unrelenting “cytokine storm,” an immune reaction to the release of too many cytokines into the blood too quickly.  Researchers proposed that storm is a factor in the underlying processes that define aging.

Oxygen radicals generated through prolonged treatment with R–Cu virtually eliminated cfCHPs.

The researchers propose that oral administration of a combination of small quantities of R and Cu promises to be an effective anti-aging therapeutic combination.

The research is certainly promising, but it’s important to understand that use of resveratrol and copper comes with side effects. Resveratrol has been associated with nausea and intestinal issues. Copper can be toxic. 

Clearly, additional research is needed to assess the safety and efficacy of R-Cu treatments to manage aging – and to determine whether this therapy can retard neurodegeneration.