Presenting the SASP Atlas for the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype

The presence of growing numbers of lingering senescent cells is one of the root causes of aging. Vast numbers of cells become senescent every day, but near all are quickly removed, either via programmed cell death or the actions of the immune system. A tiny number survive, however, and that alone would eventually be enough to cause age-related disease and death. While senescent cells never rise to very large fractions of all of the cells in a given tissue, they cause considerable harm via a potent mix of secreted signals known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, or SASP. The SASP causes chronic inflammation and destructive remodeling of the nearby extracellular matrix. Further, it changes the behavior of other cells for the worse, including increasing their chances of becoming senescent. In today's open access paper, researchers present the start of a new database that will categorize the many molecules making up the SASP for various cell types. Since nothing is simple in biochemistry, the SASP is undoubtedly meaningfully different from tissue to tissue and cell type to cell type. Why does the SASP exist? Senescent cells have important transient roles in wound healing and in regulating the growth of embryonic tissues. Here the signals are beneficial, involved in growth and regeneration, and senescent cells are cleared from the site after they have served their purpose. Further, senescence in response to DNA damage or a toxic environment is a defense again...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs