A chemical device dicovered in worms may help doctors treat diseases including Alzheimer's, researchers believe. 

Chemical device dicovered in worms may help doctors treat diseases Scientists bred worms with the ability to "turn on" a reaction in their body's cells that is usually prompted automatically by a drop in surrounding oxygen.

Those worms able to "turn on" the reaction - called the hypoxic response - lived longer and are relatively free from toxic proteins that accumulate and clump together as an animal ages, the researchers found.

Scientists 'a step closer to curing jet lag'Similar collections of toxic proteins are seen in the brain cells of people with Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and several other degenerative conditions associated with aging.

The bodily substance that controls the hypoxic response is called HIF. It is regulated by a protein called VHL-1.

Ordinarily, HIF is destroyed by by VHL-1 when oxygen is present, keeping the hypoxic response "off" .

The researchers bred worms that could not produce VHL-1, meaning HIF survived even in the presence of high oxygen levels, and the hypoxic response was prompted.

These worms lived about 30 percent longer than ordinary worms, the researchers found.

Dr Matt Kaeberlein, of the University of Washington, who led the research, said: "This is a completely new pathway for aging and age-associated disease.

"If we can understand at a very detailed level how HIF is slowing aging, we may be able to use that information to develop effective therapies for treating age-associated diseases in people."

The research is published in the journal Science.