To inspire more young scientists to join the quest to get aging under full medical control, we have created the Forever Healthy Fellowship Program. The fellowship covers support for a three-year project, to be carried out at the SENS Research Center in Mountain View, California. It includes the salary for the fellow, benefits, supplies, and space in a fully equipped research lab.

We are happy to announce, that the Forever Healthy Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Tesfahun Admasu. 

When cells age, they lose their proliferative capacity and stop dividing in a phenomenon called senescence. Cellular senescence decreases the regenerative capacity of cells and tissues and is thought to be driving age-associated pathologies. Throughout the aging process, senescent cells accumulate and secrete a characteristic set of proteins, called a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Senescent cells can trigger healthy cells in their surrounding to become senescent, which further aggregate the effect. While primary senescent cells are fairly well characterized at this point, not much is known about secondary senescent cells and how they arise in vivo.

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Project Goals

The project of Dr. Tesfahun Admasu seeks to confirm the hypothesis that secondary senescent cells are different from primary senescent cells, and would, therefore, need a different senolytic to eradicate them. In addition, the project will study how SASP components mediate the spread of senescence. This work could provide us with the basis for a new, therapeutically viable hypothesis for stopping the spread and to rejuvenate the affected tissue.

The Forever Healthy Foundation announces the public launch of the Risk-Benefit Analysis of Dasatinib + Quercetin as a Senolytic Therapy, a structured review of the published evidence. It is the fifth publication of Forever Healthy's "Rejuvenation Now" initiative following the "Risk & Benefit Analysis of Vascular Rejuvenation using EDTA".

Forever Healthy's "Rejuvenation Now" initiative seeks to continuously identify potential rejuvenation therapies and systematically evaluates them on risks, benefits, and therapeutic protocols to create transparency regarding the current state of said therapies.


Dasatinib + Quercetin - a powerful rejuvenation therapy?

When a cell reaches the end of its life or becomes damaged beyond repair it normally either kills itself or signals the immune system to remove it. Unfortunately, every so often this mechanism fails. The cell stays around indefinitely and starts poisoning its environment. Over time, more and more of these harmful, death resistant, senescent cells accumulate. Senescent cells are thought to be one of the main drivers of aging and age-related diseases.

Senolytics are drugs that selectively remove senescent cells by disabling the mechanisms that allow them to survive. Dasatinib (D), a well-established medication used in the treatment of cancer and quercetin (Q), a flavonoid common in plants were among the first senolytics to be discovered. As they have been shown to affect different types of senescent cells, they are often employed in combination. 

Studies in rodents have shown that clearing senescent cells can prevent, delay, or alleviate multiple age-related diseases and extend the healthy lifespan by up to 35%. Based on the promising results in animal testing, it is supposed that intermittent dosing of D+Q also leads to the elimination of senescent cells in humans with the accompanying health and rejuvenation benefits.

As the first clinical trials in humans have been completed and interest in the practical application of D+Q is increasing, Forever Healthy seeks to assess the risks, benefits, and therapeutic protocols of using D+Q as a senolytic therapy.


Methods & Results

For this risk and benefit analysis, the team at Forever Healthy screened more than 3300 scientific papers and included over 150 clinical and pre-clinical studies in its analysis.

Currently, there are only results from 3 trials in humans in which D+Q was evaluated as a senolytic therapy. The majority of human studies used D or Q in cancer therapy and provided information on side effects and safety.
The benefits shown in animals were significant and were observed in many organ systems. However, several of the benefits only occurred in diseased animals (i.e. diabetic mice), while the healthy control group did not benefit from the treatment. 

The benefits reported in human studies are mainly focussed on senescent cell markers. So far, these markers are only hypothesized to translate to clinically meaningful effects. Few benefits had direct clinical relevance, and those were not really convincing. Additionally, 2 out of the 3 clinical studies were in patients with pre-existing disease so there is very limited information on the effect in healthy individuals.

The potential risks of D are extensive and well-known through its use in the treatment of cancer. While the clinical trials that used D+Q as a senolytic therapy reported only mild to moderate adverse events, it is of note that the low number of participants in these studies might not deliver a representative result.

Furthermore, the human studies all used different treatment protocols and there is no consensus on the measurement of efficacy in clinical practice. 

Therefore, until there are more studies showing benefits in humans, a clearer picture of the senolytic-use specific risk profile, and a consensus on a treatment protocol, it seems prudent to avoid the use of D+Q as a senolytic therapy.

More details, including an in-depth analysis of all risks & benefits, can be found here.

The Forever Healthy Foundation announces the public release of its Practical Guide to natural antivirals and immune boosters for COVID-19 today.

Antivirals with a broad spectrum of action and immunomodulators that improve host resilience are crucial to overcoming novel viral infections. As of yet, there aren't any evidence-based or clinically proven treatments or vaccines available for COVID-19.

However, numerous compounds, including natural antivirals and natural immunomodulators, have been suggested for both prevention and treatment. Unfortunately, the scientific evidence behind these recommendations is most often not provided, making the decision whether to use a certain compound virtually impossible.

In light of the current COVID-19 outbreak, we review the scientific, empirical, and clinical evidence of proposed natural compounds that could potentially help prevent infection or reduce the severity of symptoms.

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Method & Results

A search for recommendations of natural antivirals and immune-boosting compounds with possible relevance to COVID-19 was conducted using online resources of the leading integrative medical, naturopathic, and functional medicine associations. 

Evidence for or against each compound was then collected and in cases where supporting or refuting evidence was not found, consultations with experts and of association-specific supporting literature were carried out.

Finally, substances were categorized and a list of recommendations of compounds that have shown beneficial immunomodulatory actions, clinical efficacy, safety, and potentially specific effects on SARS-CoV-2 was created. 

The team identified 50 natural substances and mixtures recommended for preventing infection with SARS-CoV-2 or lessening the severity of symptoms of COVID-19. As there hasn't been enough time for the scientific community to conduct clinical trials on the effects of any of the compounds on SARS-CoV-2, we chose to recommend 8 substances with established safety that have shown strong antiviral or immunomodulatory effects in previously conducted clinical trials or clinical practice.

Please find the details including the final list of recommended compounds and doses here.