Research Paper Volume 4, Issue 5 pp 350—358
Once again on rapamycin-induced insulin resistance and longevity: despite of or owing to
- 1 Department of Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA
Received: May 20, 2012 Accepted: May 30, 2012 Published: May 31, 2012
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100461How to Cite
Abstract
Calorie restriction (CR), which deactivates the nutrient-sensing mTOR pathway, slows down aging and prevents age-related diseases such as type II diabetes. Compared with CR, rapamycin more efficiently inhibits mTOR. Noteworthy, severe CR and starvation cause a reversible condition known as “starvation diabetes.” As was already discussed, chronic administration of rapamycin can cause a similar condition in some animal models. A recent paper published in Science reported that chronic treatment with rapamycin causes a diabetes-like condition in mice by indirectly inhibiting mTOR complex 2. Here I introduce the notion of benevolent diabetes and discuss whether starvation-like effects of chronic high dose treatment with rapamycin are an obstacle for its use as an anti-aging drug.