Senomorphic Development to Reduce the Senescence Associated Secretory Phenotype

The burden of cellular senescence increases with age, perhaps largely because the immune system becomes less able to remove senescent cells in a timely fashion. Lingering senescent cells are significantly harmful even when making up one percent or less of all cells in a tissues. This is because cells in a senescent state vigorously generate a mix of pro-growth, pro-inflammatory signals, the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The SASP changes cell behavior for the worse, encourages chronic inflammation, and induces nearby cells to also become senescent. This is actively disruptive to tissue function, and contributes directly to the pathology of many age-related conditions. Much of the medical research and development relating to senescent cells is focused on finding ways to selectively destroy them, the production of senolytic drugs. However, a sizable faction within the research community are interested in instead minimizing or blocking some or all of the SASP, the production of senomorphic drugs. This seems less beneficial as a strategy, since the SASP is not fully mapped, and treatments would have to be continual rather than intermittent, but some researchers are concerned that removal of senescent cells in some tissues may cause harm. To me, that seems to have been already demonstrated a lesser concern, given the evident, lasting benefits produced in mice following clearance of senescent cells. Today's open access review paper makes the point t...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs