We all want to live longer, but no one wants to spend their twilight years in frailty and ill health. Now, researchers from the University of Connecticut have demonstrated a treatment that could extend both lifespan and health span, meaning we might enjoy our added years in good health.

For the past century, human lifespans have increased significantly. Yet, many people spend their final decade battling chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases, often followed by a period of frailty. While various interventions can prolong life, they don't always preserve health. Spending the last years of a long life in decrepitude is hardly an appealing prospect.

But this grim scenario might not be inevitable. In the August 6 issue of Cell Metabolism, UConn School of Medicine gerontologist Ming Xu presents intriguing findings. A group of mice that received monthly treatments lived 9% longer—about 79 extra days. Not only did these mice live longer, but they also walked faster and gripped objects more strongly than untreated mice of the same age. In humans, slowed walking speed and weakened grip are closely linked to increased frailty. Remarkably, the treated mice maintained their strength and walking speed throughout the treatment period until the very end of their lives.

This study stands out for its rigorous measurement and record-keeping. Most mouse studies on health and longevity pick an endpoint, such as 18 or 24 months, and measure the treatment's effects at that specific time. But Xu, along with postdocs Binsheng Wang and Lichao Wang and their colleagues, measured health, grip strength, and walking speed, along with other metrics, monthly from when the mice were 20 months old (equivalent to 60-year-old humans) until they died. Some mice lived up to 43 months. This longitudinal approach allowed the team to track physical function and health changes throughout the treatment period and assess health status leading up to death, often the frailest stage of life.

Excitingly, they found that even though the treated mice were older at death, their physical function and overall health were better than those of the controls during their final life stage.

"We are all very excited about this finding because it demonstrates that we not only extend lifespan but indeed extend life with good health in mice, which is a key goal for the aging field," says Xu, an assistant professor at the UConn Center on Aging and the Department of Genetics & Genome Sciences at UConn School of Medicine.

The researchers divided the mice into two groups. One group received monthly treatments to remove highly inflammatory cells from their tissues; the control group did not. These ‘highly inflammatory cells’ were identified by the active expression of a gene called p21.

The collaborative effort included researchers from UConn Health, the University of Texas, Cedars-Sinai, the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, and the UNMC College of Dentistry. They found that the treatments extended the maximum and average lifespans of the mice. The oldest treated mice lived to be 43 months, equivalent to about 130 human years. On average, treated mice lived longer and healthier than untreated mice.

The next challenge is translating these results to humans. If the treatment works as well in humans, it could add 8 to 10 years of healthy old age.

In summary, this study offers a glimmer of hope that we might not just live longer but live better in our later years. However, it’s worth noting that this is still early days—translating findings from mice to humans is a long and complex process. But the potential is there, and it's an exciting prospect for the future of aging research.