HDAC Inhibition Suppresses the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype

The research materials here cover the recent work of one of many groups digging deeper in the mechanisms of cellular senescence, in search of novel ways to make senescent cells less harmful to surrounding tissues, or means to selectively destroy them outright. The accumulation of senescent cells with age is now well proven to contribute to aging, generating chronic inflammation and disrupting tissue function via a potent mix of signals known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, or SASP. The scientists involved here have discovered that HDAC inhibitors can to some degree suppress the SASP, and this intervention also makes these errant cells function more normally in other respects as well. It is an open question as to whether making senescent cells act more normally is in fact a sensible goal, versus selective destruction using one of the many senolytic therapies under development. Senescent cells are senescent for a reason: they are damaged in some way, or at the end of their replicative life span. It is plausible to argue that helping senescent cells to survive, even while controlling their bad behavior, will meaningfully increase the risk of cancer due to accumulated mutational damage - protecting cells that really should be destroyed. No-one yet has good data to back one position or another in that argument, but given tools such as HDAC inhibition, and other approaches shown to suppress the SASP to various degrees, that data should emerge in the years a...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs