A few recent articles have
interesting implications for modulating the processes of cellular senescence
and cell death that seem to underlie much of the aging phenomenon [1]. In a
recent article in CELL, Sharpless and
colleagues described a way to visualize senescent cells and tissues in vivo
(mice) using luminescence imaging; interestingly tumors were ‘hot spots’ of
cell senescence [2]. However, somewhat in contrast to the studies in [1], the CELL paper did not find a tight
correlation between degree of senescence and death of the animals (at least
from cancer). Thus there may be senescence-related and unrelated causes of
death. In the long term better understanding of the kinetics of senescence will
ultimately lead to better approaches for influencing the process.
On a different but related
theme, a commentary in Nature Reviews
Drug Discovery [3] described recent progress in Alzheimer’s disease
therapeutics. Although there have been some recent major disappointments, the
quest goes on. A major change in emphasis
is to begin to interdict the process of beta-amyloid formation at earlier stages,
essentially when no clinical symptoms are present. This seems another example
of the blurring line between therapeutics and enhancement of the functions of
healthy individuals. No doubt we will see much more of this as our biomedical
technology gets increasingly sophisticated.
3. http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v12/n1/full/nrd3922.html
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