Senescent cells accumulate with age throughout the body. In youth the immune system promptly removes senescent cells, but this clearance slows with advancing age, leading to a growing population of lingering senescent cells. Senescent cells cease replicating and devote their efforts to the production of pro-growth, pro-inflammatory signals that become disruptive to tissue structure and function. Thus a population of senescent cells acts to actively maintain a degraded state of tissue, and their removal is immediately beneficial. Mouse stu…
Reviewing the Role of Cellular Senescence in Metabolic Disease
Senescent cells accumulate with age throughout the body. In youth the immune system promptly removes senescent cells, but this clearance slows with advancing age, leading to a growing population of lingering senescent cells. Senescent cells cease replicating and devote their efforts to the production of pro-growth, pro-inflammatory signals that become disruptive to tissue structure and function. Thus a population of senescent cells acts to actively maintain a degraded state of tissue, and their removal is immediately beneficial. Mouse stu…