A Recommended Tour of the State of Development of Senolytic Therapies

Today's article is a cut above the usual popular science standard in terms of detail and accuracy, capturing a snapshot of the present development of senolytic therapies. It is lengthy and touches on a range of present initiatives, companies, research programs, and clinical trials. Senolytics are one of the most important developments to emerge from the medical research community in quite a long time, in that they are the first rejuvenation therapy worthy of that classification. A senolytic treatment is one that selectively destroys senescent cells. These cells accumulate in old tissues, and while never rising to very large numbers, nonetheless contribute meaningfully to chronic inflammation and cell and tissue dysfunction of aging through the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Researchers have robustly and repeatably achieved rejuvenation in animal models via the use of senolytics, meaning reversal of measures of numerous age-related diseases, and extension of life span. Near any senolytic approach works, so long as it can remove senescent cells while avoiding harmful side-effects. Senescent cell accumulation is clearly an important process in aging, and a comparatively easy target for therapies intended to produce rejuvenation in the old. A small number of human trials of first generation senolytic drugs have taken place in the past couple of years, some complete and published, some not. The initial trial data has been a mix of promising where i...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs