Do women age differently from men? New research suggests so

New studies have revealed how men and women respond differently anti-ageing drugs, suggesting sex is a significant factor in the ageing process.

The life expectancy of women is significantly higher than that of men. However, women also suffer more often from age-related diseases and adverse drug reactions. 

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing have been investigating how to improve the life expectancy of men, while also helping women stay healthy in older age.

Their recent findings show that the men and women respond differently to an anti-ageing drug known as rapamycin, suggesting that sex could play a significant part in the ageing process.

“Our long-term goal is to make men live as long as women and also women as healthy as men in late life. But for that, we need to understand where the differences come from,” explains Yu-Xuan Lu, one of the leading authors of the study.

Rapamycin extends lifespan only in female flies

The researchers gave the anti-ageing drug rapamycin to male and female fruit flies to study the effect on the different sexes. 

Rapamycin is a cell growth inhibitor and immune regulator that is normally used in cancer therapy and after organ transplantations. They found that rapamycin extended the lifespan and slowed age-related intestinal pathologies in female flies but not in males.

Healthier life due to more autophagy

The researchers observed that rapamycin increased autophagy – the cell’s waste disposal process – in the female intestinal cells. 

Male intestinal cells, however, already seem to have a high basal autophagy activity, which cannot be further increased by rapamycin. The scientists could also see this effect of rapamycin in mice. Female mice showed increased autophagy activity after treatment with rapamycin. 

“Previous studies found that females had greater responses to rapamycin on lifespan extension than did males in mice, we now uncover an underlying mechanism of these differences using flies”, says Yu-Xuan Lu.

Sex-specific, personalised treatments

Linda Partridge, senior author of the study, explains: “Sex can be a decisive factor for the effectiveness of anti-ageing drugs. Understanding the processes that are sex-specific and determine response to therapeutics will improve the development of personalised treatments.”