Scientists are still uncovering the secrets of a compound discovered 50 years ago on Easter Island. Produced by bacteria there, rapamycin appears to be a powerful life-extender and may be a transformative treatment for age-related diseases.

While the drug label for rapamycin currently does not claim to “extend human life,” some people with a strong desire for longevity have already sought this medication from their doctors and take it regularly in small doses.

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During this period, they observed that the local indigenous people—who walked barefoot—never contracted tetanus, leading the researchers to suspect that some substance in the soil provided protection. Subsequently, in the laboratory, scientists found just that. This substance was a metabolite of Streptomyces hygroscopicus that possessed antibacterial properties.

Rapamycin was extracted from soil collected on Easter Island. Easter Island is called Rapa Nui in the native Polynesian language. (Pablo Cozzaglio/AFP via Getty Images)

This substance starves fungi and things around them and prevents the organisms from growing, Arlan Richardson, professor of biochemistry and physiology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, told The Epoch Times.

“[TOR] is arguably one of the most important biological molecules ever known,” said Dr. Lufkin, as it fundamentally affects metabolism. It is worth mentioning that TOR derives its name directly from rapamycin. TOR stands for “target of rapamycin,” while mTOR, used in many studies, stands for the “mechanistic target of rapamycin.”

Illustration of the immunosuppressant drug rapamycin (red), also known as sirolimus. It is an inhibitor of mTOR (blue). (Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

TOR essentially does one thing: It senses the presence of nutrients. When nutrients are available, TOR signals for cell growth. Conversely, when nutrients are scarce, cells stop growing and initiate repair. “And both of those modes are healthy and necessary for life,” Dr. Lufkin said.

Rapamycin was initially used as an immunosuppressant. Higher doses of rapamycin (3 milligrams per day) were found to reduce the activity of immune cells, thereby suppressing the immune system’s rejection of foreign organs. In 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rapamycin for kidney transplant patients.

Because of its ability to inhibit cell growth, rapamycin was later used as an anti-cancer drug. In 2007, the rapamycin analog temsirolimus was first approved for treating kidney cancer. Dr. Lufkin noted that rapamycin is effective against multiple types of cancer, with the FDA having approved rapamycin for use as a primary or adjunct therapy for eight types.

There is a connection between the immunosuppressive and anti-cancer effects of rapamycin. “It appears to have a positive effect on cancer control in patients who have transplants—for example, heart transplants,” Dr. Lufkin said. Because of immune suppression, “the most common cause of death after the transplant is not organ rejection, but it is actually a cancer,” he said.

In simple terms, autophagy is the process by which cells recycle and remove their own waste and foreign materials, conserving energy for survival.

Modern diet and lifestyle play a significant role in the overactivation of mTOR. With the agricultural revolution, food has become increasingly accessible. Subsequently, the widespread use of refrigerators and the prevalence of processed and ultra-processed foods in recent decades have made these foods the primary components of the modern diet. “This has led to people eating all the time. And mTOR is turned all the way on to this growth mode,” Dr. Lufkin said.

Mr. Richardson stated, “If we inhibit it, we basically slow down the growth of things that we do not want,” thereby delaying aging and preventing many age-related diseases. This has already been proven in animal models.

“I do not want to go out and say, ‘Well, you should be taking rapamycin,’” Mr. Richardson said, noting that research on rapamycin’s ability to improve or increase human lifespan “is a long way off.” Needed research includes testing potential side effects in clinical trials and assessing the compound’s therapeutic effects on specific age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.

However, Mr. Richardson believes that for individuals with irreversible conditions such as Alzheimer’s, exploring rapamycin treatment under the guidance and observation of a doctor may be a viable option.

Alessandro Bitto, acting assistant professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathology at the University of Washington, noted that while many drugs that are effective in mice ultimately fail in humans, some small-scale human studies suggest that rapamycin improves specific age-related markers.

According to Mr. Bitto, rapamycin’s longevity effects in humans haven’t yet been proven because “we still do not have good proxies for longevity.” However, alternative measures of longevity, such as epigenetic clocks, are currently being developed and improved.

“I think there are possibly great benefits from [rapamycin] that we do not even begin to understand now,” Dr. Lufkin said. Despite having a relatively good safety record, rapamycin has been approved for human use for only a little more than 20 years, and randomized controlled trials on human longevity with rapamycin only began in 2016.

Scientists are also testing rapamycin on dogs, which mostly live with their owners and are exposed to environments closer to human living conditions. This approach is expected to yield more compelling results.

“The results should be interpreted with a little caution as many more studies testing rapamycin will follow. In the meantime, there are other strategies to antagonize the aging process,” Dr. Maier told The Epoch Times.

Dr. Lufkin, on the other hand, holds a relatively positive view of rapamycin’s role in improving metabolism and extending lifespan. In fact, he takes rapamycin himself, but he stresses the importance of complementing it with lifestyle changes.

Dr. Maier said rapamycin can have serious side effects. The FDA notes that taking rapamycin at a therapeutic dosage for preventing organ transplant rejection may increase the risk of infection and certain cancers related to immunosuppression. In addition, a review published in the journal Nature Aging in 2023 indicated that the side effects of higher doses of rapamycin in organ transplant and cancer patients include oral ulcers, gastrointestinal discomfort, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and impaired wound healing.