The combination of dasatinib + quercetin reduced senescent cells in adipose tissue of patients with diabetic kidney disease; in mice it improves physical health and extends lifespan.
View the study (pilot RCT) →The senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) directly drives the inflammaging that characterizes aging.
View the study (preclinical) →The accumulation of senescent cells in the brain contributes to neuroinflammation, glaucoma, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
View the study (preclinical) →*⏱ 2 min read
Senescence is a stress response in which damaged cells end their normal growth cycles to prevent dysfunctional cells from reproducing; it is a vital cellular process involved in embryonic development, wound healing, and immunity against cancer, but the accumulation of senescent cells is associated with diseases of aging such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, sarcopenia, and glaucoma.
The immune system has an effective process for clearing senescent cells, but many factors of modern lifestyle impair the immune system's ability to maintain a safe concentration of dysfunctional cells: a high-glycemic-index diet increases the rate of senescence in endothelial progenitor cells of the bone marrow; sedentary behavior increases the burden of cellular senescence in adipose tissue; lack of sleep shortens telomeres, the protectors of DNA; and chronic social stress accelerates senescence in multiple organs and reduces life expectancy in mice.
Senolytic drugs, which selectively induce apoptosis in senescent cells without affecting healthy cells, represent one of the most exciting advances in the biology of aging: the combination of quercetin and dasatinib reduced cellular senescence in the adipose tissue of patients with diabetic kidney disease in the first human clinical trial; fisetin, a flavonoid found in strawberries, selectively induced apoptosis in senescent cells but not in stem cells; and spermidine suppressed senescence in epithelial cells in mice challenged with bleomycin.
A recent hyperbaric oxygen study of 35 participants older than 60 who completed 60 treatment sessions found statistically significant increases in telomere length of 30% in helper T cells, 38% in B cells, and 22% in natural killer cells, along with reductions in senescent T cells of up to 12%, representing the first evidence in humans that a regular treatment can slow the pace of aging in immune cells; these results require replication with larger studies and control groups.
Information, not medical advice. Scientific evidence reflects the quality of the studies.