Abstract
Cellular senescence, which has been linked to age-related diseases, occurs during normal aging or as a result of pathological cell stress. Due to their incapacity to proliferate, senescent cells cannot contribute to normal tissue maintenance and tissue repair. Instead, senescent cells disturb the microenvironment by secreting a plethora of bioactive factors that may lead to inflammation, regenerative dysfunction and tumor progression. Recent understanding of stimuli and pathways that induce and maintain cellular senescence offers the possibility to selectively eliminate senescent cells. This novel strategy, which so far has not been tested in humans, has been coined senotherapy or senolysis. In mice, senotherapy proofed to be effective in models of accelerated aging and also during normal chronological aging. Senotherapy prolonged lifespan, rejuvenated the function of bone marrow, muscle and skin progenitor cells, improved vasomotor function and slowed down atherosclerosis progression. While initial studies used genetic approaches for the killing of senescent cells, recent approaches showed similar effects with senolytic drugs. These observations open up exciting possibilities with a great potential for clinical development. However, before the integration of senotherapy into patient care can be considered, we need further research to improve our insight into the safety and efficacy of this strategy during short- and long-term use.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker DJ, Childs BG, Durik M, Wijers ME, Sieben CJ, Zhong J, Saltness RA, Jeganathan KB, Verzosa GC, Pezeshki A, Khazaie K, Miller JD, van Deursen JM (2016) Naturally occurring p16(Ink4a)-positive cells shorten healthy lifespan. Nature 530:184–189
Baker DJ, Perez-Terzic C, Jin F, Pitel KS, Niederlander NJ, Jeganathan K, Yamada S, Reyes S, Rowe L, Hiddinga HJ, Eberhardt NL, Terzic A, van Deursen JM (2008) Opposing roles for p16Ink4a and p19Arf in senescence and ageing caused by BubR1 insufficiency. Nat Cell Biol 10:825–836
Baker DJ, Wijshake T, Tchkonia T, LeBrasseur NK, Childs BG, van de Sluis B, Kirkland JL, van Deursen JM (2011) Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders. Nature 479:232–236
Bernet JD, Doles JD, Hall JK, Kelly Tanaka K, Carter TA, Olwin BB (2014) p38 MAPK signaling underlies a cell-autonomous loss of stem cell self-renewal in skeletal muscle of aged mice. Nat Med 20:265–271
Berry DC, Jiang Y, Arpke RW, Close EL, Uchida A, Reading D, Berglund ED, Kyba M, Graff JM (2017) Cellular aging contributes to failure of cold-induced beige adipocyte formation in old mice and humans. Cell Metab 25:166–181
Braun H, Schmidt BM, Raiss M, Baisantry A, Mircea-Constantin D, Wang S, Gross ML, Serrano M, Schmitt R, Melk A (2012) Cellular senescence limits regenerative capacity and allograft survival. J Am Soc Nephrol 23:1467–1473
Burd CE, Sorrentino JA, Clark KS, Darr DB, Krishnamurthy J, Deal AM, Bardeesy N, Castrillon DH, Beach DH, Sharpless NE (2013) Monitoring tumorigenesis and senescence in vivo with a p16(INK4a)-luciferase model. Cell 152:340–351
Campisi J (2013) Aging, cellular senescence, and cancer. Annu Rev Physiol 75:685–705
Campisi J, d’Adda di Fagagna F (2007) Cellular senescence: when bad things happen to good cells. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 8:729–740
Castillo-Quan JI, Kinghorn KJ, Bjedov I (2015) Genetics and pharmacology of longevity: the road to therapeutics for healthy aging. Adv Genet 90:1–101
Chang J, Wang Y, Shao L, Laberge RM, Demaria M, Campisi J, Janakiraman K, Sharpless NE, Ding S, Feng W, Luo Y, Wang X, Aykin-Burns N, Krager K, Ponnappan U, Hauer-Jensen M, Meng A, Zhou D (2016) Clearance of senescent cells by ABT263 rejuvenates aged hematopoietic stem cells in mice. Nat Med 22:78–83
Childs BG, Baker DJ, Wijshake T, Conover CA, Campisi J, van Deursen JM (2016) Senescent intimal foam cells are deleterious at all stages of atherosclerosis. Science 354:472–477
Childs BG, Durik M, Baker DJ, van Deursen JM (2015) Cellular senescence in aging and age-related disease: from mechanisms to therapy. Nat Med 21:1424–1435
Cosgrove BD, Gilbert PM, Porpiglia E, Mourkioti F, Lee SP, Corbel SY, Llewellyn ME, Delp SL, Blau HM (2014) Rejuvenation of the muscle stem cell population restores strength to injured aged muscles. Nat Med 20:255–264
Croce CM, Reed JC (2016) Finally, an apoptosis-targeting therapeutic for cancer. Cancer Res 76:5914–5920
de Cabo R, Carmona-Gutierrez D, Bernier M, Hall MN, Madeo F (2014) The search for antiaging interventions: from elixirs to fasting regimens. Cell 157:1515–1526
de Lange T (2005) Shelterin: the protein complex that shapes and safeguards human telomeres. Genes Dev 19:2100–2110
Delbridge AR, Grabow S, Strasser A, Vaux DL (2016) Thirty years of BCL-2: translating cell death discoveries into novel cancer therapies. Nat Rev Cancer 16:99–109
Demaria M, Ohtani N, Youssef SA, Rodier F, Toussaint W, Mitchell JR, Laberge RM, Vijg J, Van Steeg H, Dolle ME, Hoeijmakers JH, de Bruin A, Hara E, Campisi J (2014) An essential role for senescent cells in optimal wound healing through secretion of PDGF-AA. Dev Cell 31:722–733
Freund A, Orjalo AV, Desprez PY, Campisi J (2010) Inflammatory networks during cellular senescence: causes and consequences. Trends Mol Med 16:238–246
Gyawali B, Shimokata T, Honda K, Kondoh C, Hayashi N, Yoshino Y, Sassa N, Nakano Y, Gotoh M, Ando Y (2016) Muscle wasting associated with the long-term use of mTOR inhibitors. Mol Clin Oncol 5:641–646
Hashimoto M, Asai A, Kawagishi H, Mikawa R, Iwashita Y, Kanayama K, Sugimoto K, Sato T, Maruyama M, Sugimoto M (2016) Elimination of p19ARF-expressing cells enhances pulmonary function in mice. JCI Insight 1:e87732
Jacobs JJ, de Lange T (2005) p16INK4a as a second effector of the telomere damage pathway. Cell Cycle 4:1364–1368
Janzen V, Forkert R, Fleming HE, Saito Y, Waring MT, Dombkowski DM, Cheng T, DePinho RA, Sharpless NE, Scadden DT (2006) Stem-cell ageing modified by the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4a. Nature 443:421–426
Kirkland JL, Tchkonia T (2015) Clinical strategies and animal models for developing senolytic agents. Exp Gerontol 68:19–25
Koppelstaetter C, Schratzberger G, Perco P, Hofer J, Mark W, Ollinger R, Oberbauer R, Schwarz C, Mitterbauer C, Kainz A, Karkoszka H, Wiecek A, Mayer B, Mayer G (2008) Markers of cellular senescence in zero hour biopsies predict outcome in renal transplantation. Aging Cell 7:491–497
Krishnamurthy J, Ramsey MR, Ligon KL, Torrice C, Koh A, Bonner-Weir S, Sharpless NE (2006) p16INK4a induces an age-dependent decline in islet regenerative potential. Nature 443:453–457
Krishnamurthy J, Torrice C, Ramsey MR, Kovalev GI, Al-Regaiey K, Su L, Sharpless NE (2004) Ink4a/Arf expression is a biomarker of aging. J Clin Invest 114:1299–1307
Krizhanovsky V, Yon M, Dickins RA, Hearn S, Simon J, Miething C, Yee H, Zender L, Lowe SW (2008) Senescence of activated stellate cells limits liver fibrosis. Cell 134:657–667
Leverson JD, Phillips DC, Mitten MJ, Boghaert ER, Diaz D, Tahir SK, Belmont LD, Nimmer P, Xiao Y, Ma XM, Lowes KN, Kovar P, Chen J, Jin S, Smith M, Xue J, Zhang H, Oleksijew A, Magoc TJ, Vaidya KS, Albert DH, Tarrant JM, La N, Wang L, Tao ZF, Wendt MD, Sampath D, Rosenberg SH, Tse C, Huang DC, Fairbrother WJ, Elmore SW, Souers AJ (2015) Exploiting selective BCL-2 family inhibitors to dissect cell survival dependencies and define improved strategies for cancer therapy. Sci Transl Med 7:279ra240
Li H, Collado M, Villasante A, Strati K, Ortega S, Canamero M, Blasco MA, Serrano M (2009) The Ink4/Arf locus is a barrier for iPS cell reprogramming. Nature 460:1136–1139
Liu Y, Sanoff HK, Cho H, Burd CE, Torrice C, Ibrahim JG, Thomas NE, Sharpless NE (2009) Expression of p16(INK4a) in peripheral blood T-cells is a biomarker of human aging. Aging Cell 8:439–448
Longo VD, Antebi A, Bartke A, Barzilai N, Brown-Borg HM, Caruso C, Curiel TJ, de Cabo R, Franceschi C, Gems D, Ingram DK, Johnson TE, Kennedy BK, Kenyon C, Klein S, Kopchick JJ, Lepperdinger G, Madeo F, Mirisola MG, Mitchell JR, Passarino G, Rudolph KL, Sedivy JM, Shadel GS, Sinclair DA, Spindler SR, Suh Y, Vijg J, Vinciguerra M, Fontana L (2015) Interventions to slow aging in humans: are we ready? Aging Cell 14:497–510
Malavolta M, Pierpaoli E, Giacconi R, Costarelli L, Piacenza F, Basso A, Cardelli M, Provinciali M (2016) Pleiotropic effects of tocotrienols and quercetin on cellular senescence: Introducing the perspective of Senolytic effects of phytochemicals. Curr Drug Targets 17:447–459
Masoro EJ, Austad SN (2006) Handbook of the biology of aging. Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam, p xx 660 p
Matjusaitis M, Chin G, Sarnoski EA, Stolzing A (2016) Biomarkers to identify and isolate senescent cells. Ageing Res Rev 29:1–12
McGlynn LM, Stevenson K, Lamb K, Zino S, Brown M, Prina A, Kingsmore D, Shiels PG (2009) Cellular senescence in pretransplant renal biopsies predicts postoperative organ function. Aging Cell 8:45–51
Melk A, Schmidt BM, Takeuchi O, Sawitzki B, Rayner DC, Halloran PF (2004) Expression of p16INK4a and other cell cycle regulator and senescence associated genes in aging human kidney. Kidney Int 65:510–520
Melk A, Schmidt BM, Vongwiwatana A, Rayner DC, Halloran PF (2005) Increased expression of senescence-associated cell cycle inhibitor p16INK4a in deteriorating renal transplants and diseased native kidney. Am J Transplant 5:1375–1382
Molofsky AV, Slutsky SG, Joseph NM, He S, Pardal R, Krishnamurthy J, Sharpless NE, Morrison SJ (2006) Increasing p16INK4a expression decreases forebrain progenitors and neurogenesis during ageing. Nature 443:448–452
Mosteiro L, Pantoja C, Alcazar N, Marion RM, Chondronasiou D, Rovira M, Fernandez-Marcos PJ, Munoz-Martin M, Blanco-Aparicio C, Pastor J, Gomez-Lopez G, De Martino A, Blasco MA, Abad M, and Serrano M (2016) Tissue damage and senescence provide critical signals for cellular reprogramming in vivo. Science 354
Munoz-Espin D, Canamero M, Maraver A, Gomez-Lopez G, Contreras J, Murillo-Cuesta S, Rodriguez-Baeza A, Varela-Nieto I, Ruberte J, Collado M, Serrano M (2013) Programmed cell senescence during mammalian embryonic development. Cell 155:1104–1118
Neves J, Demaria M, Campisi J, Jasper H (2015) Of flies, mice, and men: evolutionarily conserved tissue damage responses and aging. Dev Cell 32:9–18
Palmer AK, Tchkonia T, LeBrasseur NK, Chini EN, Xu M, Kirkland JL (2015) Cellular senescence in type 2 diabetes: a therapeutic opportunity. Diabetes 64:2289–2298
Roos CM, Zhang B, Palmer AK, Ogrodnik MB, Pirtskhalava T, Thalji NM, Hagler M, Jurk D, Smith LA, Casaclang-Verzosa G, Zhu Y, Schafer MJ, Tchkonia T, Kirkland JL, Miller JD (2016) Chronic senolytic treatment alleviates established vasomotor dysfunction in aged or atherosclerotic mice. Aging Cell 15:973–977
Salama R, Sadaie M, Hoare M, Narita M (2014) Cellular senescence and its effector programs. Genes Dev 28:99–114
Sato S, Kawamata Y, Takahashi A, Imai Y, Hanyu A, Okuma A, Takasugi M, Yamakoshi K, Sorimachi H, Kanda H, Ishikawa Y, Sone S, Nishioka Y, Ohtani N, Hara E (2015) Ablation of the p16(INK4a) tumour suppressor reverses ageing phenotypes of klotho mice. Nat Commun 6:7035
Schafer MJ, White TA, Evans G, Tonne JM, Verzosa GC, Stout MB, Mazula DL, Palmer AK, Baker DJ, Jensen MD, Torbenson MS, Miller JD, Ikeda Y, Tchkonia T, van Deursen JM, Kirkland JL, LeBrasseur NK (2016) Exercise prevents diet-induced cellular senescence in adipose tissue. Diabetes 65:1606–1615
Sharpless NE, Ramsey MR, Balasubramanian P, Castrillon DH, DePinho RA (2004) The differential impact of p16(INK4a) or p19(ARF) deficiency on cell growth and tumorigenesis. Oncogene 23:379–385
Sharpless NE, Sherr CJ (2015) Forging a signature of in vivo senescence. Nat Rev Cancer 15:397–408
Singh M, Jensen MD, Lerman A, Kushwaha S, Rihal CS, Gersh BJ, Behfar A, Tchkonia T, Thomas RJ, Lennon RJ, Keenan LR, Moore AG, Kirkland JL (2016) Effect of low-dose rapamycin on senescence markers and physical functioning in older adults with coronary artery disease: results of a pilot study. J Frailty Aging 5:204–207
Sorrentino JA, Krishnamurthy J, Tilley S, Alb JG Jr, Burd CE, Sharpless NE (2014) p16INK4a reporter mice reveal age-promoting effects of environmental toxicants. J Clin Invest 124:169–173
Storer M, Mas A, Robert-Moreno A, Pecoraro M, Ortells MC, Di Giacomo V, Yosef R, Pilpel N, Krizhanovsky V, Sharpe J, Keyes WM (2013) Senescence is a developmental mechanism that contributes to embryonic growth and patterning. Cell 155:1119–1130
Sturmlechner I, Durik M, Sieben CJ, Baker DJ, van Deursen JM (2017) Cellular senescence in renal ageing and disease. Nat Rev Nephrol 13:77–89
Tasdemir N, Lowe SW (2013) Senescent cells spread the word: non-cell autonomous propagation of cellular senescence. EMBO J 32:1975–1976
Tchkonia T, Zhu Y, van Deursen J, Campisi J, Kirkland JL (2013) Cellular senescence and the senescent secretory phenotype: therapeutic opportunities. J Clin Invest 123:966–972
van Deursen JM (2014) The role of senescent cells in ageing. Nature 509:439–446
Waaijer ME, Parish WE, Strongitharm BH, van Heemst D, Slagboom PE, de Craen AJ, Sedivy JM, Westendorp RG, Gunn DA, Maier AB (2012) The number of p16INK4a positive cells in human skin reflects biological age. Aging Cell 11:722–725
Wang Y, Chang J, Liu X, Zhang X, Zhang S, Zhang X, Zhou D, Zheng G (2016) Discovery of piperlongumine as a potential novel lead for the development of senolytic agents. Aging (Albany NY) 8:2915–2926
Xu M, Bradley EW, Weivoda MM, Hwang SM, Pirtskhalava T, Decklever T, Curran GL, Ogrodnik M, Jurk D, Johnson KO, Lowe V, Tchkonia T, Westendorf JJ, and Kirkland JL (2016) Transplanted senescent cells induce an osteoarthritis-like condition in mice. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
Xu M, Palmer AK, Ding H, Weivoda MM, Pirtskhalava T, White TA, Sepe A, Johnson KO, Stout MB, Giorgadze N, Jensen MD, LeBrasseur NK, Tchkonia T, Kirkland JL (2015) Targeting senescent cells enhances adipogenesis and metabolic function in old age. elife 4:e12997
Xu M, Tchkonia T, Ding H, Ogrodnik M, Lubbers ER, Pirtskhalava T, White TA, Johnson KO, Stout MB, Mezera V, Giorgadze N, Jensen MD, LeBrasseur NK, Kirkland JL (2015) JAK inhibition alleviates the cellular senescence-associated secretory phenotype and frailty in old age. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112:E6301–E6310
Xu M, Tchkonia T, Kirkland JL (2016) Perspective: targeting the JAK/STAT pathway to fight age-related dysfunction. Pharmacol Res 111:152–154
Xu Y, Li N, Xiang R, Sun P (2014) Emerging roles of the p38 MAPK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways in oncogene-induced senescence. Trends Biochem Sci 39:268–276
Yosef R, Pilpel N, Tokarsky-Amiel R, Biran A, Ovadya Y, Cohen S, Vadai E, Dassa L, Shahar E, Condiotti R, Ben-Porath I, Krizhanovsky V (2016) Directed elimination of senescent cells by inhibition of BCL-W and BCL-XL. Nat Commun 7:11190
Zhu Y, Armstrong JL, Tchkonia T, Kirkland JL (2014) Cellular senescence and the senescent secretory phenotype in age-related chronic diseases. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 17:324–328
Zhu Y, Tchkonia T, Fuhrmann-Stroissnigg H, Dai HM, Ling YY, Stout MB, Pirtskhalava T, Giorgadze N, Johnson KO, Giles CB, Wren JD, Niedernhofer LJ, Robbins PD, Kirkland JL (2016) Identification of a novel senolytic agent, navitoclax, targeting the Bcl-2 family of anti-apoptotic factors. Aging Cell 15:428–435
Zhu Y, Tchkonia T, Pirtskhalava T, Gower AC, Ding H, Giorgadze N, Palmer AK, Ikeno Y, Hubbard GB, Lenburg M, O’Hara SP, LaRusso NF, Miller JD, Roos CM, Verzosa GC, LeBrasseur NK, Wren JD, Farr JN, Khosla S, Stout MB, McGowan SJ, Fuhrmann-Stroissnigg H, Gurkar AU, Zhao J, Colangelo D, Dorronsoro A, Ling YY, Barghouthy AS, Navarro DC, Sano T, Robbins PD, Niedernhofer LJ, Kirkland JL (2015) The Achilles’ heel of senescent cells: from transcriptome to senolytic drugs. Aging Cell 14:644–658
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Funding
This study was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG): CRC 738 and SCHM 2146/6-1.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schmitt, R. Senotherapy: growing old and staying young?. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 469, 1051–1059 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-017-1972-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-017-1972-4