Algorithm to help find anti- ageing remedy?

London: Scientists have developed an algorithm which can help in the search for ageing- suppressing drugs.

The researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology ( MIPT) have compared gene expression in young and elderly patients’ cells.

Each cell uses particular schemes of molecular interaction, which physiologists call inter- cellular signalling pathways.

A signalling pathway is a chain of sequential events of interaction between certain molecules which make the cell respond to stimulation.

The team of experts from MIPT and other Russian and British organisations suggested comparing peculiarities of signalling pathways activation in young and ageing cells.

This information is then expanded with the available data on the impact of various substances on signalling pathways.

The new algorithm helps to predict the type of change in the profile of intracellular molecular interaction which will occur in response to drugs, researchers said.

Scientists point out that their algorithm can be used in rapid and inexpensive search for drugs which can minimise the difference between the cells of young and elderly patients.

This means that it will be possible to speed up the search for longevity drugs and decrease its cost, researchers said.

What is more, this will be achieved not by simply fighting some particular diseases, but by a complex influence on the mechanisms of ageing, they said.

The research was published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics.

— PTI