A Discussion of Cellular Senescence in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Cellular senescence is one of the root causes of aging. A small fraction of the large number of cells that become senescent every day fail to self-destruct, and instead linger in tissues to secrete a mix of inflammatory and other harmful signals. This behavior is known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, or SASP. The sizable numbers of senescent cells in old tissues have been implicated as a contributing cause of numerous age-related conditions, from lung disease to cardiovascular issues to forms of arthritis. More causal links will be discovered: this is a newly energetic field of research. As an example of the sort of thinking presently taking place, researchers here discuss a potential role for cellular senescence in macular degeneration, a progressive blindness caused by destruction of retinal tissue. While it seems fairly likely that senescent cells are involved, the question is always whether or not they are involved to a sufficient degree to be an important cause. That seems plausible based on what is known, but it isn't an open and shut case. There is considerable uncertainty, based on the existing evidence. Fortunately, now that senolytic therapies to clear senescent cells are a going concern, there is a fairly rapid way forward to learning more: remove senescent cells in aged animal models of macular degeneration, and see what happens. Someone will get around to that in the next few years, I'd imagine. Age-related macular degeneration (...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs