Trehalose is an Elixir: Extending the life span of C. elegans

Trehalose is a disaccharide of glucose, and is known to be potentially useful
for the treatment of HD (Huntington's Disease), because it blocks the poly
Q (glutamine) aggregation, the major cause of HD. Interestingly, like
the heat-shock protein gene (HSP16), trehalose 6-phosphate synthase (TPS-1
and TPS-2) genes are activated by the longevity transcription factor FOXO.

Recently Honda' s group at Gerontology Institute in Tokyo discovered that
trehalose extends the longevity of C. elegans by 60% even if its treatment
started at an old adult stage. This finding is very encouraging for those
who have already reached 60!

More interestingly, trehalose increases the thermo-tolerance which dependents
on heat shock proteins such as Hsp16. This finding suggests the possibility
that trehalose activates Hsp16 gene, through FOXO, somehow. We and others
found recently that FOXO is activated by several signaling pathways including
SIRT1/LKB1/AMPK, and the tumor suppressor PTEN which inactivates both oncogenic
kinases AKT and PAK1.

Does trehalose suppress the growth of cancers? Yes, almost two decades
ago, a Canadian group reported that, like sodium butylate, trehalose blocks
the malignant growth of human colon (RAS-transformed) cancer cells and
re-differentiates them into normal cells. Since sodium butylate, a HDAC
inhibitor, up-regulates PTEN, inactivating both AKT and PAK1, it is possible
that trehaloase also up-regulates PTEN, eventually activating FOXO and Hsp16 gene.