Diabetes drug metformin helps seniors fight ‘zombie’ cells: new study

A commonly prescribed drug for diabetes, metformin, has a new side hustle.

Besides helping to manage blood sugar in Type 2 diabetes, metformin can also fight off a type of cell that builds up in the body over time and plays a role in the aging process.

Senescent cells are sometimes known as “zombie” cells because they “refuse to die,” according to a King’s College London news release.

“Zombie cells release chemicals that can be harmful to nearby cells, affecting cell survival and reparative potential,” wrote the authors of a recent study on the subject.

“The build-up of these zombie cells in our bodies promotes aging and age-related conditions.”

Research published in April showed that a class of drugs called senolytics can help eliminate senescent “zombie cells” from the body, which might help improve cardiovascular health as people age.

And new research, published in the journal Aging Cell, reveals that metformin — the most commonly prescribed drug for diabetes — also targets senescent cells and prevents muscle atrophy, which may help the elderly recover faster from injury or illness.

“We are just skimming the surface of what is possible for metformin,” researcher Jonathan Petrocelli from Salt Lake City’s University of Utah told HealthDay.

“Metformin may be able to be repurposed for other muscle-loss-related clinical applications, for instance, in recovery from hip or knee surgeries in elderly individuals where there is much inflammation and muscle atrophy,” Petrocelli added.

To test metformin’s ability to prevent muscle loss and scarring, Petrocelli’s team recruited 20 healthy men and women 60 years of age or older.

Over a two-week period, the participants were either given metformin or a placebo. Then, each group continued their treatment while resting in bed for five days. The researchers used MRI imaging to track muscle loss during the participants’ resting period.

“We saw two things in our study,” Micah Drummond, professor of physical therapy and athletic training at the University of Utah’s College of Health, said in a news release.

“When participants took metformin during a bed rest, they had less muscle atrophy,” he said. “During the recovery period, their muscles also had less fibrosis or excessive collagen. That build-up can make it harder for the muscle to properly function.

“Metformin is cheap, effective and quite safe, so it’s exciting to see that we can use it to accelerate recovery for older individuals,” Drummond added.

“Our real goal is to have patients maintain their muscle mass and function as they age, because atrophy and weakness are some of the strongest predictors of disease development and death,” Petrocelli explained.

Some medical experts, however, question whether the findings about metformin are relevant today.

Dr. Irina Dashkova of the Northwell Health Stern Family Center for Rehabilitation in Manhasset, New York, said more research is needed before metformin can be considered an anti-aging drug.

“It does have side effects, some of them deadly,” Dashkova told HealthDay. “You cannot start metformin in the hospital for many reasons — it’s just for sugar control.”

At this early stage, she added, it would be unwise to take metformin to protect muscle function or slow aging.