Man’s best friend may guide us to longer, healthier lives
/The old saying “dogs are a man’s best friend” may prove to be much truer than we could possibly imagine.
The Dog Aging Project, launched in 2018, aims to study tens of thousands of companion dogs for 10 years to identify biological and environmental factors that maximize healthy longevity.
The dog research is most interesting because it relies on animal studies that more closely resemble humans and our environments.
Think about the kind of research required to get to clinical trials in humans: Scientists must first study therapies on mice. Mouse studies have led to significant discoveries, but they also have serious limitations.
As an article in Spannr points out, mice age differently than humans and do not present aging-related diseases as humans do. As a result, aging-related research on mice may produce therapies that do not translate to humans. Plus, the article makes clear that the use of genetically identical, inbred mice in clinical studies can skew results.
Joseph Gardner, a Stanford University professor of comparative medicine, explained why mouse studies are problematic in the book “Rigor Mortis” by Richard Harris:
“Imagine that I was testing a new drug to help control nausea in pregnancy, and I suggested to the FDA that I tested it purely in 35-year-old white women all in one small town in Wisconsin with identical husbands, identical homes, identical diets which I formulate, identical thermostats that I’ve set, and identical IQs. And incidentally they all have the same grandfather… That’s exactly how we do mouse work. And fundamentally that’s why I think we have this enormous failure rate.”
On the other hand, dogs develop age-related diseases at a similar rate to humans and do so in our homes, which means they share environmental conditions that affect us all. And they offer significant genetic diversity. Think about the differences between dog species, like 15-pound terriers and 200-pound Great Danes. It’s not unlike the variation between big people and their smaller neighbors.
The project has begun to publish a variety of findings from its work, but the most exciting studies are still underway. For example, it is researching the impact of rapamycin on healthy lifespan on the theory that if the drug works in dogs, it may offer similar benefits to larger mammals, including humans.
The Dog Aging Project’s work is exciting because it breaks with traditional animal studies that actively strive to avoid genetic diversity. In looking for cures for aging and the diseases it causes, we must embrace diversity – because it reflects the reality of who we are