Rapamycin, a drug commonly used to help treat transplant patients, has been shown to slow or reverse signs of aging in ovaries in mice. Now, researchers of an ongoing clinical trial are studying if the drug can help extend fertility in women.
The study shows female mice given rapamycin daily developed a delay in ovarian aging and menopause and even had babies later in life. Now, the question is: Can rapamycin do the same in humans?
The researchers recruited 50 women between the ages of 35 and 45 and gave them either rapamycin or a placebo to take daily for three months.
A co-leader of the study, Yousin Suh, a professor at Columbia University, spoke to The Guardian and said early results show it could be “realistic to hope the drug could decrease ovary aging by 20%.”
Suh said if the trials are successful, rapamycin could give hope to women who are wanting to get pregnant later in life.
Some women are currently putting off having children into their 30s and 40s, and even though life expectancy rates have increased over the years, fertility has not. By the age of 35, a woman’s fertility starts declining when the follicle activity begins to rapidly deteriorate.
The study’s authors said menopause usually begins around the age of 51 and can cause health complications, like an increase in cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and dementia. The scientists said extending the reproductive lifespan can allow more women to choose when to have children and can delay those “negative health consequences of menopause.”
Next the researchers will move on to the next step of the trials and recruit 1,000 women to see if rapamycin can extend fertility. They are expected to report the next phase of the study’s findings in two years.
