“Blood stem cells live in a niche (a microenvironment of bone marrow); we thought what happens in this specialised local environment could be a big part of the problem,” Mr Mitchell said.
The new study notes that among ageing mice that the environment where the blood-producing stem cells live becomes overwhelmed with inflammation and deteriorates.
The team’s results show the damaged bone marrow niche, called IL-1B, was important in driving these ageing features.
But it was found that anakinra is capable of blocking this, and administering the drug returned ageing blood to a younger and healthier state.