Further Evidence for a Diversity of Cellular Senescence and Variable Efficacy of Senolytic Drugs

Cellular senescence is important in aging, as these cells disrupt tissue function and provoke chronic inflammation where they linger in old tissues. The phenomenon is found in cell types throughout the body, but researchers have shown that meaningful differences between cell types exist in the biochemistry of cellular senescence, and possibly between senescent states for the same cell type. A senolytic drug that can efficiently destroy one type of senescent cell may perform poorly for another type. This indicates that a diversity of development of senolytic therapies, and combinations of multiple therapies, will likely prove beneficial. Alternatively, approaches such as the suicide gene therapy developed by Oisin Biotechnologies may win out as p16 expression proves to be a more general characteristic of senescence than others. There is a heterogeneity in markers expressed by senescent cells depending on both cell type and an insult used to induce senescence. However, there are several common features typical for the most types of senescent cells. The essential characteristic of senescence for any kind of dividing cells is the irreversible proliferation loss. The irreversibility of the cell cycle arrest is controlled by the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors p16 and p21 and is often regulated by the tumor suppressor protein p53. The other important features of senescent cells are the activation of a persistent DNA damage response; cell hypertrophy, which ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs