The growing epidemic of many age-related chronic diseases, such as
cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative
diseases, especially Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, places an
increasing burden on the healthcare systems worldwide. In recent years,
efforts to manipulate the consequences of aging have yielded some
success, and naturally, identifying effective ways to slow down or even
reverse aging has become increasingly popular. Importantly, existing
drugs can be repurposed for anti-aging effects. Studies from model
organisms and early stage human clinical trials have found that
metformin and rapamycin, which respectively are an effective
anti-diabetic medication and an immunosuppressant, have promising
results in slowing aging and treating age-related diseases. These
findings point to the possibility that these two anti-aging drug
candidates, and especially their derivatives which may reduce side
effects, are likely to become the first genuine rejuvenation medications
to achieve healthy aging. Here, we present knowledge on the mechanisms
that are involved in the anti-aging effect of the two molecules,
followed by an outline of a host of potential aging-related clinical
applications. We finally provide insights on the considerations and
further directions for the development of anti-aging drugs.