Senescence as a therapeutic target in cancer and age-related diseases.
Abstract
Cellular senescence is a stress response that restrains the growth of aged, damaged or abnormal cells. Thus, senescence has a crucial role in development, tissue maintenance and cancer prevention. However, lingering senescent cells fuel chronic inflammation through the acquisition of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which contributes to cancer and age-related tissue dysfunction. Recent progress in understanding senescence has spurred interest in the development of approaches to target senescent cells, known as senotherapies. In this Review, we evaluate the status of various types of senotherapies, including senolytics that eliminate senescent cells, senomorphics that suppress the SASP, interventions that mitigate senescence and strategies that harness the immune system to clear senescent cells. We also summarize how these approaches can be combined with cancer therapies, and we discuss the challenges and opportunities in moving senotherapies into clinical practice. Such therapies have the potential to address root causes of age-related diseases and thus open new avenues for preventive therapies and treating multimorbidities.
The following analysis is generated by AI and may contain errors. It is separate from the authors’ abstract and is not peer review.
Research summary
The paper discusses cellular senescence as a therapeutic target, which is directly related to addressing the root causes of aging and age-related diseases. It evaluates various senotherapies that aim to mitigate the effects of senescence, thus contributing to the field of longevity research. The impact score reflects that while the findings are important and advance the understanding of senescence in the context of aging and cancer, they do not represent a major breakthrough or transformative work in the field.
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