Senolytic Therapies as Preventative Medicine for Glaucoma

Lingering populations of senescent cells grow with age, and cause considerable harm via their inflammatory secretions. They are a tool to promote regeneration and resistance to cancer in the short term, but like many short term systems, they become damaging when left switched on for the long term. As I noted just yesterday, even looking at only the past year of studies of senolytic therapies to selectively destroy senescent cells, there is strong evidence in animal models for their ability to prevent or reverse a score of common age-related conditions, a broad range from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of neurodegeneration to fibrosis of the heart and kidney. This is just a starting point. Senolytics have yet to be tested in earnest for many more conditions that could plausibly be reversed by the targeted removal of senescent cells; there is only so much funding, and only so many scientists. As the study of senescent cells in the context of aging expands, with the continued influx of new funding driven by a growing interest in this part of the field, we should expect to see ever more examples such as the one I'll note today. This is yet another age-related condition with poor treatment options in which animal models are shown for the first time to benefit from the application of senolytics. In this case the condition is glaucoma, loss of vision caused by degeneration of retinal ganglion cells and the optic nerve. In most cases - but not all - this is caused ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs