Therapeutics

17α-Estradiol is a mirror-image form of the main estrogen, 17β-estradiol. The technical word is a 'stereoisomer'. But it has far weaker feminizing effects. So it barely acts like…

AAV gene therapy uses a re-engineered virus (adeno-associated virus, AAV) to deliver a working gene into your tissues. The cargo is a 'transgene cassette': usually a promoter, a…

Acarbose is an 'alpha-glucosidase inhibitor', approved for type 2 diabetes. It works in your gut: by blocking the breakdown of carbohydrates, it blunts the spikes in blood…

Low-dose aspirin (usually 75 to 100 mg a day) permanently blocks an enzyme (COX-1) in your platelets. That cuts their production of thromboxane A2 and makes them less likely to…

Berberine is an isoquinoline alkaloid, found in several plant groups, including Berberis, goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), and Coptis chinensis. It is sold as a dietary…

Bisphosphonates are bone drugs that copy a natural molecule (pyrophosphate) and stick tightly to the mineral in your bones. When bone-dissolving cells (osteoclasts) chew on that…

BPC-157 is a synthetic 15-amino-acid peptide. It is based on a sequence found in human gastric juice. It is marketed for healing your tendons, ligaments, and gut. Animal studies…

Canakinumab (Ilaris, from Novartis) is a fully human antibody. It neutralizes the inflammatory signal interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in your body. The FDA approved it in 2009 for a rare…

Cerebrolysin is a peptide preparation derived from pig brain. It is made by EVER Pharma (Austria). It contains small neuropeptides and free amino acids. It is marketed for your…

Colchicine is a plant alkaloid from the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale). It fights inflammation by binding tubulin and disrupting microtubules. That hampers neutrophil…

CRISPR-based therapies use CRISPR-Cas9, base editors, or prime editors to make targeted, somatic edits to your DNA. The edits can be done ex vivo (in cells taken out of you) or…

Cycloastragenol is the 'aglycone' (sugar-free core) of astragaloside IV. It is a cycloartane-type triterpenoid, made by breaking down a compound from Astragalus membranaceus…

D+Q is one of the most-studied senolytic combinations. It pairs dasatinib (a tyrosine-kinase-inhibitor cancer drug) with quercetin (a plant flavonoid). You take it…

Denosumab is a fully human antibody that blocks a signal called RANKL. RANKL is the cytokine that bone-dissolving cells (osteoclasts) need to form, activate, and survive. By…

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) circulates mainly as DHEA-S. It is a precursor that your peripheral tissues use to make testosterone and estradiol. Serum DHEA-S peaks in early…

Donanemab is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody. It targets a specific, pyroglutamate-modified end of amyloid-beta (called N3pG). That target appears almost only in established…

Epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) is a synthetic peptide of four amino acids (a tetrapeptide). Vladimir Khavinson's group developed it in the 1980s and 90s, at the St Petersburg…

Exosomes are tiny membrane vesicles (30 to 150 nm across) that cells release from an internal sorting system. They carry a cargo of proteins, lipids, mRNAs, microRNAs, and other…

Gene therapy delivers genetic material to add, silence, or edit your genes. It usually uses AAV viral vectors for stable, long-term gene expression. Or it uses lipid…

GHK-Cu is the tripeptide glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine, bound to copper(II). It is a fragment of a larger blood protein (α2-macroglobulin), whose level in your plasma drops with…

GLP-1 receptor agonists copy a gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1. Examples are liraglutide, semaglutide, and dulaglutide. They prompt your pancreas to release insulin…

Glucosamine is an amino sugar your body makes itself. It is a building block of glycosaminoglycans, the long sugars that keep cartilage hydrated, springy, and able to take…

Growth hormone (GH, somatropin) is a peptide hormone from your anterior pituitary. It shapes body composition, bone density, and metabolism, mostly by making your liver produce…

Heterochronic parabiosis (HCP) is an experiment where a young and an old animal are surgically joined so they share one blood supply. Each is continuously exposed to the other's…

Menopausal HRT replaces estrogen, usually combined with a progestogen if you have a uterus. It relieves hot flushes and other vasomotor symptoms, protects your bones, and treats…

Humanin is a 24-amino-acid peptide. It is encoded inside your mitochondrial DNA, in the 16S rRNA region. Hashimoto and Nishimoto first found it in surviving neurons of…

Klotho is a protein that drops sharply as you age. It acts as a co-receptor for the hormone FGF23. Its soluble, circulating form (s-Klotho) dampens Wnt and TGF-β signaling. In…

Lecanemab is a humanized antibody. It binds soluble amyloid-beta 'protofibrils' (and, less so, fibrous plaques). In the phase 3 CLARITY-AD trial, it slowed decline on a standard…

Trace lithium comes from drinking water (about 0.01 to 0.1 mg/L). In ecological studies in Japan, Texas, and Europe, more of it has been linked to lower all-cause death. The…

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are versatile stromal cells. They can turn into bone, cartilage, and fat cells. They are harvested from bone marrow, fat, umbilical cord (Wharton's…

Metformin is a cheap, decades-old diabetes pill (a biguanide). Doctors reach for it first in type 2 diabetes. It does two main things. It tells your liver to make less new sugar…

Methylene blue (MB) is a synthetic dye (a phenothiazine), FDA-approved (as Provayblue, 2016) to treat a blood disorder called acquired methemoglobinemia. The starting dose there…

Mitochondrial transplantation means physically moving healthy, working mitochondria (the cell's power plants) into cells or organs whose own mitochondria are failing, for example…

MOTS-c is a 16-amino-acid peptide. It is encoded inside your mitochondrial 12S rRNA region. In rodent studies, it activates AMPK and inhibits the folate-purine cycle. It also…

Navitoclax (ABT-263) is an orally available 'BH3 mimetic'. It inhibits three anti-death proteins: BCL-2, BCL-xL, and BCL-W. It does this by slotting into their BH3 groove, which…

Nicotinamide (NAM, also called niacinamide) is the amide form of vitamin B3. It is a direct building block for NAD+, via a salvage-pathway enzyme called NAMPT. It is…

Peptide therapy uses short chains of amino acids, often injected, to try to modulate something in your body. Common targets are growth hormone (with peptides like sermorelin and…

Pioglitazone is a diabetes drug (a thiazolidinedione) that makes your body more sensitive to insulin. It works by activating a receptor called PPARγ, which helps fat cells mature…

Plasmapheresis is the umbrella term for procedures that separate the plasma from the cells in your blood, outside your body. The technique varies. The plasma can be filtered and…

Rapamycin (also called sirolimus) is a drug that blocks mTORC1, the cell's main growth switch. It is a macrolide, first approved to stop the immune system from rejecting kidney…

Retatrutide (LY3437943) is an investigational once-weekly injectable peptide from Eli Lilly. It activates three receptors at once: the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R), the GIP receptor…

Semaglutide is a long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist. It is approved for type 2 diabetes (as Ozempic and Rybelsus). It is also approved for chronic weight management (as Wegovy).…

A senescent-cell vaccine is an attempt to train your immune system to find and kill senescent ('zombie') cells, much like a cancer vaccine trains it against tumors. Suda and…

Senolytic therapy uses drugs or natural compounds to selectively kill senescent cells. These 'zombie' cells build up in you with age and leak a toxic mix (the SASP) of…

Sermorelin is a synthetic 29-amino-acid copy of your body's growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH 1-29). It prompts your pituitary to release growth hormone (GH) in natural…

SGLT2 inhibitors (the 'gliflozins', like empagliflozin and dapagliflozin) block a kidney transporter called sodium-glucose cotransporter 2. That makes you pee out excess glucose.…

Statins (drugs like atorvastatin and rosuvastatin) lower your cholesterol by blocking a liver enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase and ramping up the receptors that pull LDL out of…

TA-65 is a proprietary, purified extract enriched in cycloastragenol, from Astragalus membranaceus. T.A. Sciences markets it (under license from Geron), and sells it to you as a…

TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase) is the business end of telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds your chromosome caps (telomeres). In most adult human tissues, TERT is…

If you have diagnosed hypogonadism, testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) restores the hormone. (Hypogonadism means low blood testosterone plus symptoms.) It is given via gels,…

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is a specific form of plasmapheresis. In each session, roughly one to one-and-a-half plasma volumes are removed from your blood. That plasma is…

Thymosin α-1 (Tα1) is a 28-amino-acid peptide, cut from a precursor (prothymosin α), naturally made by the epithelial cells of your thymus. It tunes both innate and adaptive…

Tirzepatide is a once-weekly drug. It switches on two gut-hormone receptors at once: GIP and GLP-1. It is approved for type 2 diabetes (sold as Mounjaro). It is also approved for…

Urolithin A is a compound your gut bacteria make. They produce it by transforming ellagitannins and ellagic acid, polyphenols found in pomegranates, walnuts, and berries, using…

Alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) is a key intermediate in the TCA (citric acid) cycle. It also acts as a required co-substrate for a large family of enzymes (dioxygenases). Those…