Interventions to mimic the effects of calorie restriction
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorStephen R. Spindler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Long term calorie restriction has the benefit of increasing life span. Methods to screen interventions that mimic the effects of calorie restriction are disclosed. Extensive analysis of genes for which expression is statistically different between control and calorie restricted animals has demonstrated that specific genes are preferentially expressed during calorie restriction. Screening for interventions which produce the same expression profile will provide interventions that increase life span. In a further aspect, it has been discovered that test animals on a calorie restricted diet for a relatively short time have a similar gene expression profile to test animals which have been on a long term calorie restricted diet.
Claims28
A method of identifying an intervention that mimics the effects of caloric restriction in cells, comprising:
- obtaining a biological sample;
- exposing said biological sample to an intervention;
- waiting a specified period of time;
- assessing changes in gene expression levels, levels of RNA, protein, or protein activity levels related to one or more biomarkers of aging;
- and
- identifying said intervention as one that mimics the effects of caloric restriction if one or more changes in said levels also occurs in caloric restriction.
The method of claim 24, wherein the reference animal has been on a calorie restricted diet for less than about 2 weeks.
The method of claim 28, wherein the gene expression profile of the test animal is determined to be statistically similar to the gene expression of the calorie restricted animal by one way ANOVA followed by Fisher's test (P<0.05).
A system for identifying an intervention that mimics the effects of calorie restriction in a test animal comprising a test animal and a gene chip comprising genes known to have altered expression during calorie restriction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.