ArticleeLife2016
Transient rapamycin treatment can increase lifespan and healthspan in middle-aged mice.
Article in eLife, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 267 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
267 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 467 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rapamycin, Not Metformin, Mirrors Dietary Restriction-Driven Lifespan Extension in Vertebrates: A Meta-Analysis.Aging cell · 2025Pooled it
- Rapamycin not dietary restriction improves resilience against pathogens: a meta-analysis.GeroScience · 2023Pooled it
- Sex differences in pharmacological interventions and their effects on lifespan and healthspan outcomes: a systematic review.Frontiers in aging · 2023Pooled it
- Immunosuppressants in Liver Transplant Recipients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: Capability or Catastrophe?-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Exercise and Weekly Sirolimus (Rapamycin) in Older Adults: RAPA-EX-01 Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Trial
- Influence of rapamycin on safety and healthspan metrics after one year: PEARL trial results.Aging · 2025Trial
- Knockdown of the fly spliceosome component Rbp1 (orthologue of SRSF1) extends lifespan.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The Hallmarks of Aging: From Molecular Mechanisms to Clinical Translation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The Epistemic Policies of Anti-Ageing Medicines in the European Union.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2026Article
- Review
- Unlocking the aging brain: mTORC1 as a convergent integrator for neurodegeneration and therapeutic intervention.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Bench to bedside: is rapamycin headed for the docTOR?GeroScience · 2026Review
- Pharmacokinetic analysis of intermittent rapamycin administration in early-stage Alzheimer's Disease.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Remembrance of things past: Towards a life-course biology of aging.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Small-molecule IGF1R inhibitors extend healthspan in a mouse model.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Translational Geroscience Strategies for Delaying Multimorbidity.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2026Review
- Rapamycin reduces peritendinous fibrosis but has a limited effect on intratendinous healing in a rodent Achilles tendon injury model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Hematopoietic stem cell aging promotesResearch square · 2026Article
- Dietary methionine mitigates immune-mediated damage by enhancing renal clearance of cytokines.Cell metabolism · 2026Article
- Translating cellular senescence research into clinical practice for metabolic disease.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
207 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The FDA approved drug rapamycin increases lifespan in rodents and delays age-related dysfunction in rodents and humans. Nevertheless, important questions remain regarding the optimal dose, duration, and mechanisms of action in the context of healthy aging. Here we show that 3 months of rapamycin treatment is sufficient to increase life expectancy by up to 60% and improve measures of healthspan in middle-aged mice. This transient treatment is also associated with a remodeling of the microbiome, including dramatically increased prevalence of segmented filamentous bacteria in the small intestine. We also define a dose in female mice that does not extend lifespan, but is associated with a striking shift in cancer prevalence toward aggressive hematopoietic cancers and away from non-hematopoietic malignancies. These data suggest that a short-term rapamycin treatment late in life has persistent effects that can robustly delay aging, influence cancer prevalence, and modulate the microbiome.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.