Targeting Cellular Senescence to Heal Non-Healing Wounds

An accumulation of senescent cells takes place throughout the body with age. Cells become senescent constantly, the vast majority as a consequence of hitting the Hayflick limit on replication of somatic cells. In youth, these cells are efficiently removed, either via programmed cell death, or destroyed by the immune system. In later life, removal processes slow down, while the damaged state of tissue provokes ever more cells into becoming senescent. In older people, this imbalance leads to a state in which a few percent of all cells in tissues are senescent at any given time. This is, unfortunately, more than enough to produce sizable consequences to health and mortality. Senescent cells secrete a potent mix of inflammatory and growth signals that disrupt tissue function when present consistently. Senescent cells do conduct useful, necessary activities in an environment in which they are quickly removed, and their signaling is beneficial in the short term. They assist in aspects of embryonic development, for example. The senescence of damaged and potentially cancerous cells suppresses cancer risk by efficiently removing these errant cells. Then there is the role of senescent cells in wound healing, which is the topic of today's open access paper. Wound healing captures the two-edged nature of cellular senescence in and of itself: wounds heal more rapidly in young individuals due to the presence of senescent cells. But when senescent cells are present in too great a num...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs