The CNIO discovers that rapamycin has harmful effects when telomeres are short

The CNIO shows that an anti-aging strategy that extends life in normal mice, the treatment with rapamycin, is harmful when mice have short telomeres.The team addresses for the first time the connections between two of the main biochemical processes associated with ageing: the shortening of telomeres and the ability of cells to detect nutrients.The study reveals thus far unknown basic aspects of one of the main molecular pathways, mTOR, involved in cancer and aging.