Removing Senescent Cells Makes Chemotherapy More Effective

Cellular senescence is protective against cancer, at least initially. When cells become senescent due to potentially cancer-inducing damage, shutting down replication and secreting pro-inflammatory signals reduces the risk of cancer and attracts the immune system to clear out other potentially cancerous cells that have not become senescent. When senescent cells linger in larger numbers, however, they begin to aid cancer by changing the environment into one that favors the growth of cancerous tissue. Thus clearing senescent cells in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments is more effective for patients than the treatment on its own. Additionally, the established approaches of chemotherapy and radiotherapy produce a lasting burden of senescent cells in the course of killing the cancer. This harms patients, increasing their risk of age-related disease and reducing life expectancy, but senolytic therapies to clear those senescent cells may remove this well-established cost to successful cancer treatment. Cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, in addition to killing a large number of tumour cells, also result in the generation of senescent tumour cells. While senescent cells do not reproduce, they do, unfortunately, generate a favourable environment for the expansion of tumour cells that may have escaped the effects of the chemotherapy and eventually result in tumour regrowth. Researchers have described how cancer cells that have become senescent after chemothe...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs