UW’s Dog Aging Project Looks to Extend Dogs’ Lives

Dog Aging Project: Drug Extends Life of Test Animals “Considerably”

Yesterday KIRO’s Monique Ming Laven reported that two University of Washington researchers are working to prove that the drug rapamycin can add years to a dog’s life.

Professors Matt Kaeberlein and Daniel Promislow’s Dog Aging Project found that giving rapamycin to mice “improved strength and cardiac function and considerably extended their lives.” The age of one of the mice they studied “is equivalent to a 140-year-old person.”

Pena is one of the dogs that participated in the first phase of the Dog Aging Project. Photo from the Dog Aging Project.

“We’ve been able to increase lifespan by 30, 40, 50 percent by targeting the pathways that affect aging. Fundamentally, there’s no reason why that can’t be done in dogs,” Dr. Kaeberlein told Laven. 

Doctors usually give Rapamycin to people receiving organ transplants to prevent organ rejection.

The initial phase of the project tested rapamycin on 32 middle-aged Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and German Shepherds.

Next Phase Will Test Affect on Dogs

According to the Dog Aging Project website, the next phase of the study “will enroll a second cohort of middle-aged dogs into a longer-term, low-dose rapamycin regimen designed to maximize lifespan and healthspan extension.”

Dog owners volunteered their pets to participate in the first phase of the project. They included Rose Bigham, who said that after her 10-year-old dog Rascal participated in the project, he had “more energy, more spunk.” She also said, “It was like he was in his prime again!”

For the second phase of the project, the researchers are asking more dog owners from around the United States and other countries to allow their dogs to be used in the study. Their goal is to have 300 dogs participate.

Dogs of any breed of dog are eligible to participate phase 2 study. They must be at least 6 years old and in good health, without significant pre-existing conditions.

Dogs selected for this study will receive a low dose of rapamycin. Researchers will evaluate them through regular veterinary exams and activities with their owners. They will study several age-associated traits including cognitive function, cardiac function, immunity, and cancer incidence.

The researchers believe they will show that rapamycin “could improve healthy longevity of typical pet dogs by 2-5 years.”

If you’d like your dog to participate in the second page of the Dog Aging Project, click here and fill out an application.

You can also help the Project by making a contribution to help fund its work.

While the Dog Aging Project won’t be completed for a few years, the initial results do look promising.

Here’s the story from KIRO. You can also click here to watch Monique Ming Laven’s Q&A with Professor Kaeberlein.

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