Growth Differentiation Factor 11 (or GDF11) is a naturally occurring (endogenous) protein in mammals that was first discovered to have effects of restoring heart function in mice by Amy Wagers (at al) in her Harvard lab (https://hsci.harvard.edu/aging-and-gdf11-what-we-know).
What scientists think is that GDF11 is a signaling molecule responsible for repairing your stem cell DNA. What’s been discovered is that the molecular composition of GDF11 is exactly the same across all mammal species, from mice to dogs and humans.
Further studies have shown that the levels of GDF11 in our bodies decrease as we age. More research also shows that circulating concentrations of GDF11 in mammals are heritable and correlated with life span: https://www.meta.org/papers/circulating-concentrations-of-growth/26774117
Other studies have shown that supplementing with GDF11 improves survival and promotes recovery after stroke in aged mice. A new study that was just published: https://www.meta.org/papers/growth-differentiation-factor-11-supplementation/32365331
Steve Perry, a biohacker based in NYC has been experimenting with injecting low doses of GDF11 and reporting on various aging biomarkers throughout 5 years of his study.
There are now companies studying the effects of regulating levels of GDF11 protein in preclinical trials. See https://www.elevian.com/#elevian-pipeline
This is an interesting area of research and worth following.
Steve Perry's GDF11 project site: https://gdf11rejuvenation.com/
