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Title: Researchers Discover How Caffeine Could Slow Cellular Aging

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/25/0...

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.Org: In new research published by
scientists studying fission yeast�"a single-celled organism surprisingly
similar to human cells�"researchers found that caffeine affects aging by
tapping into an ancient cellular energy system. A few years ago, the same
research team found that caffeine helps cells live longer by acting on a
growth regulator called TOR (target of rapamycin). TOR is a biological switch
that tells cells when to grow, based on how much food and energy is
available. This switch has been controlling energy and stress responses in
living things for over 500 million years. But in their latest study, the
scientists made a surprising discovery: Caffeine doesn't act on this growth
switch directly. Instead, it works by activating another important system
called AMPK, a cellular fuel gauge that is evolutionarily conserved in yeast
and humans. "When your cells are low on energy, AMPK kicks in to help them
cope," explains Dr. Charalampos (Babis) Rallis, Reader in Genetics, Genomics
and Fundamental Cell Biology at Queen Mary University of London, the study's
senior author. "And our results show that caffeine helps flip that switch."
Interestingly, AMPK is also the target of metformin, a common diabetes drug
that's being studied for its potential to extend human lifespan together with
rapamycin. Using their yeast model, the researchers showed that caffeine's
effect on AMPK influences how cells grow, repair their DNA, and respond to
stress -- all of which are tied to aging and disease. The study has been
published in the journal Microbial Cell.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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