Senolytic Therapies Seem to Stop Alzheimer's Disease 'In Its Tracks'
Scientists at the University of Texas have implicated a type
of cellular stress for the first time as a player in Alzheimer's disease. And
their discovery could lead to treatments for more than 20 human brain diseases
including Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. One author of the study went
as far as to say the treatment that researchers used on mice to rid them of the
stressed cells stopped Alzheimer's disease "in its tracks."
They established a link between tau tangles and the stressed
or senescent cells they found in Alzheimer's-diseased tissue. Senescence is the
process by which cells irreversibly stop dividing or growing without dying.
Already proven to be involved in cancer and aging, tau protein accumulation is
known to exist in 20 human brain diseases.
Senescent cells are stressed. They are toxic. But they don’t
die. They are, in effect, zombie cells. And what’s worse, these senescent cells
accumulate in tissues and may contribute to tissue damage, inflammation and the
development of various age-related and chronic diseases. The scientists at UT
Health used senolytic drugs (agents that selectively destroy senescent cells or
induce cell death) to clear the senescent cells and tau tangles in Alzheimer's
mice. In the end, their experiment improved both brain function.
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