Reviewing the Mechanisms that Allow Senescent Cells to Resist Apoptosis

A large portion of research into senescent cells in the context of degenerative aging is focused on how these cells fail to destroy themselves. Senescent cells are primed to enter the programmed cell death process of apoptosis, but various mechanisms hold this off. Sabotaging some of those mechanisms is an effective way to clear a sizable fraction of senescent cells in many old tissues, as demonstrated by the initial small molecule senolytic treatments, such as the dasatinib and quercetin combination. As the authors of today's open access paper note, the fact that these apoptosis-inducing senolytics are only partially effective raises questions about the diversity of anti-apoptosis mechanisms and varieties of senescent cell. It is a fertile area of research, in which scientists are uncovering new ways to provoke senescent cells into apoptosis, with different degrees of effectiveness on senescent cells of different origins. There are many more areas of cellular biochemistry yet to explore, and likely many more effective senolytic small molecules yet to be identified. Why Senescent Cells Are Resistant to Apoptosis: An Insight for Senolytic Development Cellular senescence is a process that leads to a state of irreversible growth arrest in response to a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic stresses. Initially, the phenomenon was found when cultured cells were shown to undergo a limited number of cell divisions in vitro. Cellular senescence is different from c...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs