SRT-1720 is an experimental drug that was studied by

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA that developed therapies for type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. Conceived in 2004 by Harvard University biologist David Sinclair and serial entrepreneur And ...

intended as a

small-molecule Within the fields of molecular biology and pharmacology, a small molecule or micromolecule is a low molecular weight (≤ 1000 daltons) organic compound that may regulate a biological process, with a size on the order of 1 nm. Many drugs ar ...

activator of the

sirtuin Sirtuins are a family of signaling proteins involved in metabolic regulation. They are ancient in animal evolution and appear to possess a highly conserved structure throughout all kingdoms of life. Chemically, sirtuins are a class of proteins t ...

subtype

SIRT1 Sirtuin 1, also known as NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-1, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SIRT1 gene. SIRT1 stands for sirtuin (silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog) 1 (''S. cerevisiae''), referring to the fact t ...

. The compound has been studied in animals, but safety and

efficacy Efficacy is the ability to perform a task to a satisfactory or expected degree. The word comes from the same roots as ''effectiveness'', and it has often been used synonymously, although in pharmacology a pragmatic clinical trial#Efficacy versu ...

in humans have not been established.

Animal research

animal model An animal model (short for animal disease model) is a living, non-human, often genetic-engineered animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease process without the risk of ha ...

s of obesity and

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

SRT1720 was found to improve

insulin sensitivity Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathological condition in which cells fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin. Insulin is a hormone that facilitates the transport of glucose from blood into cells, thereby reducing blood glucose (blood sugar) ...

and lower

plasma glucose Glycaemia, also known as blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, or blood glucose level is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood of humans or other animals. Approximately 4 grams of glucose, a simple sugar, is present in the bl ...

levels in fat, muscle and liver tissue, and increase

mitochondrial A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is use ...

and metabolic function. In mice rendered obese and diabetic by feeding a high-fat, high-sugar diet, a study performed at the

National Institute of Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...

found that feeding chow infused with the highest dose of SRT1720 beginning at one year of age increased mean lifespan by 18%, and maximum lifespan by 5%, as compared to other short-lived obese, diabetic mice; however, treated animals still lived substantially shorter lives than normal-weight mice fed normal chow with no drug. In a later study, SRT1720 increased mean lifespan of obese, diabetic mice by 21.7%, similar to the earlier study, but there was no effect on maximum lifespan in this study. In normal-weight mice fed a standard rodent diet, SRT1720 increased mean lifespan by just 8.8%, and again had no effect on maximum lifespan. Since the discovery of SRT1720, the claim that this compound is a SIRT1 activator has been questioned and further defended. Although SRT1720 is not currently undergoing clinical development, a related compound,

SRT2104 SRT-2104 is an experimental drug that was studied by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals as a small-molecule activator of the sirtuin subtype SIRT1. The compound progressed to Phase II human trials for Type II diabetes before development was discontinued, ...

, reached Phase II human trials for metabolic diseases.

References

Emerging technologies Quinoxalines Piperazines Anti-aging substances {{gastrointestinal-drug-stub

Animal research

See also

References