All three chemicals are found in traditional Chinese medicine and have been identified as having the potential to eliminate defective cells that lead to future disease.
Wednesday 14 June 2023 14:30 UK
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to discover three drugs that can help prevent aging and the associated effects of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.
A study by the University of Edinburgh found that AI We use an algorithm to find three chemicals that have the potential to target defective cells. This can be hundreds of times cheaper than standard screening methods.
The researchers’ findings suggest that the drug can eliminate defective cells known as senescent cells, which are associated with disease and decreased vision and motor skills.
Previous studies have looked at these cells, but this is the first time that a chemical that can be safely removed has been identified.
Senolytic drugs are often highly toxic to normal, healthy cells in the body, the researchers said.
The researchers used data from more than 2,500 chemical structures discovered in previous studies to train a machine learning model to recognize key features of chemicals with senolytic activity.
The team then used the model to screen over 4,000 chemicals, identifying 21 potential drug candidates for experimental testing.
These chemicals, called gingethin, periplocin and oleandrin, were tested on human cells and found to eliminate defective cells.
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All three chemicals are natural products found in traditional Chinese medicine.
Co-author Diego Oyarzun, Ph.D., said: “This study demonstrates that AI is highly effective in identifying new drug candidates, especially in the early stages of drug discovery, in complex biology and in diseases with few known molecular targets. It shows that,” he said.
