Aging is a natural process, but it comes with various health challenges, including deterioration of essential body systems.

A major contributor to aging-related diseases is the decline in “proteostasis,” or the body’s ability to maintain a healthy protein balance.

As we age, our cells lose the efficiency of their protein quality control mechanisms, leading to a buildup of damaged or misfolded proteins, which can result in cellular stress and degenerative diseases.

Research on preserving proteostasis has become central to efforts to extend life span and improve quality of life in older adults.

A research team from Chung-Ang University in Korea, led by Professor Seogang Hyun, has recently made significant progress in understanding how proteostasis is maintained.

Their study, published in the journal Autophagy, examined the relationship between two key protein quality control systems, proteasomes and autophagy, and identified a drug with promising anti-aging effects.

Proteasomes are protein complexes responsible for breaking down damaged proteins into smaller peptides, while autophagy is a cellular process that recycles larger structures, including protein aggregates.

Both systems play important roles in maintaining proteostasis, yet their combined activation in the fight against aging is not fully understood. The research team’s findings focused on a drug called IU1, which increases proteasome activity and, they found, also stimulates autophagy.

The study used fruit flies (genus Drosophila) as a model organism to test the effects of IU1.

Fruit flies share many similarities with humans in terms of aging, including age-related muscle decline, making them valuable subjects for such research. The team observed that IU1 inhibits a specific enzyme (USP14) that regulates the proteasome complex, leading to increased proteasome and autophagy activities.

This synergistic effect resulted in improved muscle function and increased lifespan of the fruit flies.

What’s even more exciting is that similar results were seen in human cells, suggesting that IU1 may also have benefits in human aging.

Professor Hun emphasized the broader implications, noting that reduced proteostasis is a hallmark of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. These findings could lay the groundwork for new treatments targeting age-related conditions.

This study is an important step toward developing treatments that could slow the aging process, improve health and extend lifespan in older adults.