Fasting blood glucose as a predictor of mortality: Lost in translation.

Aging leads to profound changes in glucose homeostasis, weight, and adiposity, which are considered good predictors of health and survival in humans. Direct evidence that these age-associated metabolic alterations are recapitulated in animal models is lacking, impeding progress to develop and test interventions that delay the onset of metabolic dysfunction and promote healthy aging and longevity. We compared longitudinal trajectories, rates of change, and mortality risks of fasting blood glucose, body weight, and fat mass in mice, nonhuman primates, and humans throughout their lifespans and found similar trajectories of body weight and fat in the three species. In contrast, fasting blood glucose decreased late in life in mice but increased over the lifespan of nonhuman primates and humans. Higher glucose was associated with lower mortality in mice but higher mortality in nonhuman primates and humans, providing a cautionary tale for translating age-associated metabolic changes from mice to humans.

Localized Affinity-Based Delivery of Prinomastat for Cancer Treatment.

Glioblastoma multiforme patients suffer a median survival of 14 months, facilitated by the highly invasive nature of this cancer that allows for it to evade conventional therapy. Prinomastat targets the essential matrix metalloproteinase degradation of the extracellular matrix needed for cancer invasion; however, its clinical potential is impeded by adverse musculoskeletal side effects. By localizing delivery of prinomastat via cyclodextrin polymers, systemic side effects can be bypassed. In this letter, we demonstrate that prinomastat delivery from ß-cyclodextrin polymers results in months-long inhibition of MMPs as measured by gelatin zymography, more appropriately addressing the time frame of cancer cell invasion.