Not all
damaged cells die. Some stick around as senescent cells, unable to divide but
still able to produce chemical signals — and they could play a major role in
the battle against aging.
"It is
thought that these cells and the substances they produce are involved in the
process of aging," longevity researcher Nicolas Musi from the University
of Texas at Austin told MIT Technology Review.
"The
idea is that removing these cells may be beneficial to promote healthy aging
and also to prevent diseases of aging."
Based on the
results of a very early trial, there may be something to that theory.
Doubled Up
In January,
Musi and his colleagues published the results of a trial in which they treated
14 patients suffering from the fatal lung condition idiopathic pulmonary
fibrosis (IPF) with a drug combination they believed would clear out senescent
cells.
Over the
course of three weeks, the patients took nine doses of a leukemia drug called
dasatinib and quercetin, a supplement.
By the end
of the trial, the patients were reportedly able to walk farther than they could
previously in the same amount of time and other signs of improved well being —
all without any serious side effects.
"Though
small, this pilot study marks a major breakthrough in how we treat age-related
diseases such as IPF," researcher Jamie Justice said in a press release.
"Here,
we've therapeutically targeted a fundamental biological hallmark of aging that
is implicated in IPF, and we show early but promising results for the first
time in human patients."
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