As we age, damage and other harmful changes slowly build up in the body, and it gradually loses function and fitness. This affects all major biological processes, and the production of proteins is among the most affected. To work properly, every organism must keep a precise balance in how each protein is made, broken down and used. Aging upsets this balance, and that leads to disease. Every stage in a protein's life is linked to aging: each one has been shown to change with age and to affect life expectancy.
Short signaling peptides can start protein production by attaching to specific sites on DNA, in the control regions of genes. This opens the two strands of the double helix and activates RNA polymerase, the enzyme that reads genes. The discovery highlights a natural ability of organisms to maintain their functions, based on the way DNA and regulatory peptides fit together. This process is essential to the development and functioning of all living things, while aging is a natural, evolutionary process of age-related changes in the structure and activity of genes.
In animals, long-term use of these peptides, known as peptide bioregulators, starting from the second half of life significantly increases average lifespan by 20–40%. In people, preventive use of peptide bioregulators led to a significant improvement in the main body functions and a significant decrease in mortality in different age groups over a period of 6–12 years.
