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The Achilles’ heel of senescent cells: from transcriptome to senolytic drugs

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TLDR
The results demonstrate the feasibility of selectively ablating senescent cells and the efficacy of senolytics for alleviating symptoms of frailty and extending healthspan.
Abstract
The healthspan of mice is enhanced by killing senescent cells using a transgenic suicide gene. Achieving the same using small molecules would have a tremendous impact on quality of life and the burden of age-related chronic diseases. Here, we describe the rationale for identification and validation of a new class of drugs termed senolytics, which selectively kill senescent cells. By transcript analysis, we discovered increased expression of pro-survival networks in senescent cells, consistent with their established resistance to apoptosis. Using siRNA to silence expression of key nodes of this network, including ephrins (EFNB1 or 3), PI3Kδ, p21, BCL-xL, or plasminogen-activated inhibitor-2, killed senescent cells, but not proliferating or quiescent, differentiated cells. Drugs targeting these same factors selectively killed senescent cells. Dasatinib eliminated senescent human fat cell progenitors, while quercetin was more effective against senescent human endothelial cells and mouse BM-MSCs. The combination of dasatinib and quercetin was effective in eliminating senescent MEFs. In vivo, this combination reduced senescent cell burden in chronologically aged, radiation-exposed, and progeroid Ercc1(-/Δ) mice. In old mice, cardiac function and carotid vascular reactivity were improved 5 days after a single dose. Following irradiation of one limb in mice, a single dose led to improved exercise capacity for at least 7 months following drug treatment. Periodic drug administration extended healthspan in Ercc1(-/∆) mice, delaying age-related symptoms and pathology, osteoporosis, and loss of intervertebral disk proteoglycans. These results demonstrate the feasibility of selectively ablating senescent cells and the efficacy of senolytics for alleviating symptoms of frailty and extending healthspan.

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Journal Article

Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotypes Reveal Cell-Nonautonomous Functions of Oncogenic RAS and the p53 Tumor Suppressor

TL;DR: Coppe et al. as mentioned in this paper showed that human cells induced to senesce by genotoxic stress secrete myriad factors associated with inflammation and malignancy, including interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8.
Journal ArticleDOI

Cellular senescence in aging and age-related disease: from mechanisms to therapy

TL;DR: Current progress and challenges in understanding the stressors that induce senescence in vivo, the cell types that are prone to senesce, and the autocrine and paracrine properties of senescent cells in the contexts of aging and age-related diseases as well as disease therapy are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Hallmarks of Cellular Senescence.

TL;DR: The molecular regulators of senescence phenotypes and how they are used for identifying senescent cells in vitro and in vivo are described and the importance that these levels of regulations have in the development of therapeutic targets is highlighted.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Cellular survival: a play in three Akts

TL;DR: The mechanisms by which survival factors regulate the PI3K/c-Akt cascade, the evidence that activation of the PI 3K/ c-AKT pathway promotes cell survival, and the current spectrum of c- akt targets and their roles in mediating c- Akt-dependent cell survival are reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Blinded by the Light: The Growing Complexity of p53

TL;DR: Control of p53's transcriptional activity is crucial for determining which p53 response is activated, a decision that must be understood if the next generation of drugs that selectively activate or inhibit p53 are to be exploited efficiently.
Journal ArticleDOI

Clearance of p16 Ink4a -positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders

TL;DR: Data indicate that cellular senescence is causally implicated in generating age-related phenotypes and that removal of senescent cells can prevent or delay tissue dysfunction and extend healthspan.
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