{"id":67707,"date":"2022-06-05T09:49:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-05T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=67707"},"modified":"2022-06-16T11:28:04","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:28:04","slug":"what-is-senescence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-senescence\/","title":{"rendered":"Senescence: What It Is and How to Reverse It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is senescence? What role do senescent cells play in aging? Is it possible to reverse senescence? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we get older, our cells start to shut down by entering senescence\u2014a permanent cell cycle arrest where cells stop dividing but don&#8217;t die. Biologist David Sinclair believes that destroying those cells before they cause too much damage can significantly extend both life and health.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s how senescent cells contribute to aging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-killing-senescent-cells-to-preserve-other-cells\"><strong>Killing Senescent Cells to Preserve Other Cells<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What is senescence? <strong>Cells that are no longer able to divide<\/strong>, or that suffer genetic or epigenetic damage too severe to repair, can enter <em>senescence<\/em>: They <strong>don\u2019t function anymore, but they also don\u2019t die when they should<\/strong> (leading some researchers to refer to them as \u201czombie cells\u201d)<em>.<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong>Furthermore, senescent cells can cause <em>other <\/em>cells to enter senescence, so the process only accelerates once it\u2019s begun.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sinclair says that senescent cells send out chemicals that cause inflammation in surrounding tissue, which is associated with symptoms of aging. Therefore, it seems likely that senescent cells are responsible for many of the negative effects of old age.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers found that <strong>destroying senescent cells in mice extended their remaining lifespans by a third or more and reversed many of the effects of aging; in theory, the same principle should apply to humans.<\/strong> To that end, researchers began testing <em>senolytics <\/em>(\u201csenescence destroyers\u201d) on people in 2018, though Sinclair says it could be years before we have any conclusive results about their effectiveness and safety for human patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-state-of-senolytics\"><strong>The State of Senolytics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Developing therapies to&nbsp;kill senescent cells&nbsp;is a part of the scientific quest to slow down aging and increase both lifespan and healthspan. The Mayo Clinic began <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/medical-professionals\/endocrinology\/news\/senescent-cells-promising-anti-aging-targets-for-health-span-extension-and-the-treatment-of-osteoporosis\/mac-20431073\">human trials of senolytics<\/a> in 2018. Four years later, Mayo Clinic\u2019s website shows that at least one trial is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayo.edu\/research\/clinical-trials\/cls-20473509\">currently in phase 2:<\/a> assessing safety, effectiveness, and best practices for the treatment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phase 3 involves testing the treatment on large numbers of people and comparing it to current treatments. After this, the product will be ready to go to market. An optional phase 4 trial would later study the long-term effectiveness and safety of the new treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is senescence? What role do senescent cells play in aging? Is it possible to reverse senescence? As we get older, our cells start to shut down by entering senescence\u2014a permanent cell cycle arrest where cells stop dividing but don&#8217;t die. Biologist David Sinclair believes that destroying those cells before they cause too much damage can significantly extend both life and health.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s how senescent cells contribute to aging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":65835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-67707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-lifespan","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Senescence: What It Is and How to Reverse It - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is senescence? In biology, senescence is where cells stop dividing but do not die. 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