Intense research in the areas of cellular and organismal aging using diverse laboratory model systems has enriched our knowledge in the processes and the signalling pathways involved in normal and pathological conditions. The field finds itself in a position to take decisive steps towards clinical applications and interventions not only for targeted age-related diseases such as cardiovascular conditions and neurodegeneration but also for the modulation of health span and lifespan of a whole organism. Beyond nutritional interventions such as dietary restriction without malnutrition and various regimes of intermittent fasting, accumulating evidence provides promise for pharmacological interventions. The latter, mimic caloric or dietary restriction, tune cellular and organismal stress responses, affect the metabolism of microbiome with subsequent effects on the host or modulate repair pathways, among others. In this mini review, we summarise some of the evidence on drugs that can alter organismal lifespan and the prospects they might offer for promoting healthspan and delaying age-related diseases.
Keywords: TOR; Torin; aspirin; insulin growth signalling pathway; lifespan; metformin; rapalogs; rapamycin.