Suddenly Everyone is Casting their Views of Aging in Terms of Cellular Senescence

I exaggerate in the title of this post, of course, but there is some truth in it. Certainly, a lot more attention is focused on the phenomenon of cellular senescence now that mouse life spans have been extended and aspects of aging have been reversed via clearance of senescent cells. The existence of several startup biotechnology companies aiming to bring senescent cell clearance treatments to the clinic is shining even more of a spotlight on this area. It has been something of a transformation. Five years ago, one of the few groups of researchers interested in this field struggled greatly to raise the funding for the pivotal study to prove that selectively removing senescent cells had a significant impact on health. Five years from now, every major research center will have a cellular senescence arm in the same way that they have a cancer arm today. It is that important to that many aspects of aging and age-related disease. Cells become senescent when they reach the end of their replicative life span, or in response to damage, or a toxic environment. They cease to divide, and largely destroy themselves or are destroyed by the immune system. It is an evolutionary adaptation that serves, at least initially, to suppress cancer by removing those cells most at risk of uncontrolled replication. Unfortunately not all are destroyed. Some remain, and their numbers grow over the years, secreting a disruptive mix of signal molecules that causes chronic inflammation, corrodes sur...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs