Slowing Biological Aging May Be GLP-1 Drugs’ Next Medical Frontier
Beyond helping people manage blood sugar, lose weight, and lower their risk of cardiovascular disease, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists continue to show promise in unexpected areas of medicine.
In a recent study, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and collaborating institutions found evidence that the GLP-1 drug semaglutide may also influence markers of biological aging. The team studied adults living with HIV, a condition associated with accelerated biological aging, and found that participants taking the drug showed slower changes in several DNA-based aging markers than those receiving a placebo.
Published in Nature Communications, the research is the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to link semaglutide to changes in epigenetic markers of aging in adults with HIV.
“We are not saying that semaglutide reverses aging or makes people younger,” said the study’s first author, Michael Corley, associate professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, in a press statement. “What we are seeing is a signal that it may slow some of the biological processes associated with aging.”
Tracking Biological Age After Semaglutide Injections
With the help of data from a previous clinical trial, the researchers were curious to see the effects of semaglutide on 108 adults with an HIV-associated condition called lipohypertrophy, where patients suffer from excess abdominal fat. There were two groups: One received regular injections of the GLP-1 drug for 32 weeks, while the other received a placebo.
To estimate biological aging, the team analyzed DNA methylation, which is a chemical tags that help regulate gene activity without altering the genetic code. These patterns can be used by so-called epigenetic clocks to estimate how quickly the body is aging biologically.
Compared with the placebo group, participants receiving semaglutide showed slower biological aging across multiple epigenetic clocks associated with inflammation and organ health, including the brain, heart, liver, and kidneys. One commonly used measure, the DunedinPACE clock, suggested the speed of biological aging slowed by about nine percent during treatment.
Read More: GLP-1s May Be Causing ‘Ozempic Breath’ — and It’s a Side Effect That Should Not Be Ignored
Why Studying Aging in HIV Patients Has Broader Implications
The scientists suspect multiple mechanisms could be contributing to the effect. Semaglutide is known to reduce inflammation, improve metabolic health, and decrease visceral fat around the abdomen and organs, all factors linked to driving aging, particularly in people living with HIV.
“Emerging data also suggest that GLP-1 drugs may reprogram certain cells in different organs, which could help explain why we see effects across multiple aging clocks,” said Corley.
Although the trial focused on people with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, Corley believes the findings may have broader implications.
“Many of the biological processes we study in HIV are also central to aging in the general population,” he said. “Because these processes can emerge earlier or be more pronounced in people with HIV, this community can help us identify interventions that may improve healthspan more broadly.”
Other Studies Align With Findings, but Further Research Is Necessary
The findings also align with a smaller pilot study published in April in npj Aging. In that study, semaglutide improved several biological aging measures in some participants with HIV and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), including slower aging rates and longer telomeres, which are protective DNA caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten whenever a cell divides.
“With newer GLP-1–based therapies now emerging, the field has an opportunity to test whether different drugs in this class have distinct effects on aging biology and to identify which patients may benefit most,” said Corley.
The researchers caution that larger and longer clinical trials will be needed to confirm whether these changes translate into healthier aging, determine how long the effects last, and identify which patients are most likely to benefit.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read More: Some Medications Used to Treat HIV May Prevent or Delay Alzheimer’s Onset
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Read more: GLP-1s May Be Causing ‘Ozempic Breath’ — and It’s a Side Effect That Should Not Be Ignored
