Common Cancer Drug Could Reverse Ovarian Aging and Delay Menopause
A common cancer drug may be able to reverse-age women’s ovaries, potentially extending their childbearing years and delaying menopause. Rapamycin, also known as sirolimus, is a once-weekly pill that suppresses the immune system and is used to treat cancer and prevent organ rejection after transplants or heart stent surgery. It has been recognized as a geroprotector or a drug that can delay or reverse ageing.
It has been earmarked as a potential longevity drug in recent years after promising studies in mice showed it could increase overall lifespan. A 2021 review in the journal GeroScience, for example, examined the effects of rapamycin on mice. Researchers found that rapamycin increased the lifespan of male and female mice over 90 per cent of the time.
By the time a woman is in her thirties, her ovaries are already rapidly declining. That ageing finally cumulates with menopause, which on average starts at age 51 in the US. Though research is still early, if successful, this could be a game-changer for women who are having kids later to prioritize their careers.
The National Center for Health Statistics shows most women are having an average of 1.3 babies. From 2015-2019, only 56.7 per cent of women had a baby before the age of 49. More women have also frozen their eggs since the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2021 study found a 44-per cent increase in patients pursuing egg freezing within 90 days of the initial consultation.
Rapamycin could also delay menopause. Though most women hit menopause in their fifties, one in 20 women reach that point by age 45. The process is preceded by several years of perimenopause, which lasts an average of two to eight years and is followed by up to 14 years of postmenopause.
Menopause comes with a host of uncomfortable symptoms, ranging from uncomfortable to debilitating which include changes in the menstrual cycle, hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, decreased sex drive, depression, heart attack, and stroke. Women who go through menopause at an earlier age are also subject to a greater risk of health issues such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and even dementia.
One study, for example, found that women with menopause-related hot flashes and depressive episodes were more likely to exhibit cognitive weaknesses associated with dementia. Research suggests menopause accelerates ageing, and the earlier a woman starts going through it, the faster she ages. Rapamycin’s goal is to preserve as many healthy eggs as possible.
Unlike egg freezing, which involves overproducing eggs to store them outside the body for a later time, the drug works to keep those eggs inside the body. This would allow the ovaries to function more like younger, healthier ones. The healthy ovaries control the release of eggs with an enzyme called mTOR, or the rapamycin’s target in mammals.
