Evidence for Cellular Senescence to Contribute to Retinal Degeneration

Forms of retinal degeneration are commonplace in later life, leading to progressive and presently irreversible blindness - though there are promising human trial results emerging from the tissue engineering community of late. The accumulation of senescent cells is a feature of aging found in all tissues. These errant cells should self-destruct or be destroyed by the immune system, but enough survive to linger and cause problems. They secrete an inflammatory mix of signals that disrupts normal tissue structure and function, and their presence is one of the root causes of aging. Thus it is not surprising to find evidence for senescent cells to contribute to retinal degeneration, such as that presented here. It is good news for patients, and everyone else, whenever cellular senescence is associated with the progression of yet another age-related condition. Low-cost senolytic drugs capable of removing a significant fraction of senescent cells already exist, and numerous companies are working on the commercial development of further and better options. To the degree that we can all access senolytic treatments, and to the degree that those treatments are efficient in removing unwanted senescent cells, then we will age more slowly and the onset of age-related diseases will be postponed. Regenerative medicine approaches based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being investigated to treat several aging-associated diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs