Assessing Mitochondrial Transfer Into Senescent Cells In Vitro

Researchers here report on in vitro experiments to show that introducing functional mitochondria into a cell culture containing senescent cells reduces markers of senescence. It is an interesting question as to how this would work in living tissue, where the numbers of senescent cells are low, and mitochondria will be introduced into all cells. Since several companies are developing mitochondrial transfer as a therapy to treat the loss of mitochondrial function that is characteristic of age-related disease, we'll find out in the years ahead. Those groups are not specifically targeting cellular senescence, but can hardly avoid having senescent cells taking up their therapeutic mitochondria. For all strategies that might leave senescent cells intact but modulate their harmful signaling, the question is whether or not this is a good idea. This particularly the case for strategies that might allow senescent cells to re-enter the cell cycle and replicate again. Some fraction of senescent cells become senescent for good reasons, such as potentially cancerous mutations or other forms of damage that produce dysfunction. Senolytics that destroy senescent cells seem a safer proposal, and efficient senolytics may turn out to be required in advance of some of the other rejuvenation therapies on the horizon, such as partial reprogramming and mitochondrial transfer. Inhibition of cellular senescence hallmarks by mitochondrial transplantation in senescence-induced ARPE-19 cell...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs