In this
Monday, Nov. 11, 2019 photo, University of Washington School of Medicine
researcher Daniel Promislow, the principal investigator of the Dog Aging
Project grant, rubs the head of his elderly dog Frisbee at their home in
Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Carla K. Johnson
Seattle (AP) —
Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for
the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human
longevity too.
The project will collect a pile of
pooch data: vet records, DNA samples, gut microbes and information on food
and walks. Five hundred dogs will test a pill that could slow the aging
process.
“What we learn will potentially be good
for dogs and has great potential to translate to human health,” said project
co-director Daniel Promislow of the University of Washington School of
Medicine.
If scientists find a genetic marker for
a type of cancer in dogs, for instance, that could be explored in humans.
For the study, the dogs will live at
home and follow their usual routine. All ages and sizes, purebreds and mutts
are welcome.
Owners will complete periodic online
surveys and take their dogs to the vet once a year, with the possibility of
extra visits for certain tests. Their welfare will be monitored by a
bioethicist and a panel of animal welfare advisers.
To nominate a pet, owners can visit the
Dog Aging Project’s website.
The five-year study was formally
launched Thursday at a science meeting in Austin, Texas. The National
Institute on Aging is paying for the $23 million project because dogs and
humans share the same environment, get the same diseases and dogs’ shorter
lifespans allow quicker research results, said deputy director, Dr. Marie
Bernard. The data collected will be available to all scientists.
Leslie Lambert of Parkville, Maryland,
enrolled her 11-year-old rescue dog, Oscar, in an early phase.
“I would selfishly like to have him
around forever,” said the 33-year-old veterinarian. “Unfortunately, he ages
much, much faster than I do.”
But she’s torn by the prospect of an
anti-aging pill because so many abandoned dogs go without care. “Just
because we can, should we?”
Compared to farm dogs in the past,
today’s pampered pups live longer and get more geriatric diseases, said
veterinarian Dr. Kate Creevy of Texas A&M University, the project’s chief
scientific officer.
Yet no standard measures exist for
frailty or prognosis in sick, aged dogs, Creevy said. The project will
develop those tools.
One dog year is roughly equal to seven
human years, Creevy said, but that varies by breed. Large dogs have shorter
lifespans than smaller dogs. A Great Dane’s lifespan is about half that of a
toy poodle’s.
That makes large dogs better test
subjects for the pill. Dogs weighing at least 40 pounds will be eligible for
an experiment with rapamycin, now taken by humans to prevent rejection of
transplanted kidneys. The drug has extended lifespan in mice. A small safety
study in dogs found no dangerous side effects, said project co-director Matt
Kaeberlein of the University of Washington.
Human devotion to dogs drives projects
like this, the scientists said. Owners will gladly fill out surveys, send
records and submit a pup’s poop for analysis if they think it will help all
dogs live longer, even if it won’t help their pet.
“People love dogs,” said Promislow, who
normally studies aging in fruit flies. “No one has ever come up to me and
said, ‘Oh my goodness, I just love fruit flies.’”
Promislow’s mixed breed, 14-year-old
Frisbee, will not participate to prevent a conflict of interest.
“It’s too bad because she’s a terrific
example of a really healthy ager,” he said.
