Recent Research into the Details of Cellular Senescence

Today's papers are representative of present investigations that aim primarily to expand our knowledge of the details of cellular senescence. This is as opposed to efforts to immediately produce treatments that can address the impact of senescent cells on health. Senescent cells accumulate with age, and their presence is one of the root causes of degenerative aging. The most important work on cellular senescence at the moment is that aimed at selective destruction of these cells. The vast majority of cells that become senescent in our bodies, countless numbers day in and day out, are in fact already efficiently destroyed, either through programmed cell death or via the actions of the immune system. We'd all be much better off if the lingering remainder, the tiny fraction that evade this fate, were also removed. That said, a sizable fraction of today's research into cellular senescence aims to better understand the processes involved, or to intervene so as to reduce the harms caused by these cells, or reduce the number of cells that become senescent, or even attempt to reverse senescence, rather than destroy these cells after the fact. I have to think that this isn't anywhere near as cost-effective a path forward when it comes to the development of practical therapies, in particular because destroying senescent cells effectively deals with the harms we don't understand in addition to those we do - and mapping cellular biochemistry is a slow and expensive process. There ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs