Medical News Observer

A recent study, led by an international team of researchers confirms that targeted removal of senescent cells (SnCs), accumulated in many vertebrate tissues as we age, contribute significantly in delaying the onset of age-related pathologies.

Credit: Baker et al., Nature

This breakthrough research has been led by Dr. Chaekyu Kim and Dr. Ok Hee Jeon. In the study, the research team presented a novel pharmacologic candidate that alleviates age-related degenerative joint conditions, such as osteoarthritis (OA) by selectively destroying SnCs. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that the selective removal of old cells from joints could reduce the development of post-traumatic OA and allow new cartilage to grow and repair joints.

To test the idea that SnCs might play a causative role in OA, the research team took both younger and older mice and cut their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) to minic injury. They, then, administered injections of an experimental drug, named UBX0101 to selectively remove SnCs after anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) surgery.

Preclinical studies in mice and human cells suggested that the removal of SnCs significantly reduced the development of post-traumatic OA and related pain and created a prochondrogenic environment for new cartilage to grow and repair joints. Indeed, the research team reported that aged mice did not exhibit signs of cartilage regeneration after treatment with UBX0101 injections,

According to the research team, the relevance of their findings to human disease was validated using chondrocytes isolated from arthritic patients. The research team notes that their findings provide new insights into therapies targeting SnCs for the treatment of trauma and age-related degenerative joint disease.

Citation: Jeon, Ok Hee, Chaekyu Kim, Remi-Martin Laberge, Marco Demaria, Sona Rathod, Alain P. Vasserot, Jae Wook Chung, Do Hun Kim, Yan Poon, Nathaniel David, Darren J. Baker, Jan M Van Deursen, Judith Campisi, and Jennifer H. Elisseeff. “Local clearance of senescent cells attenuates the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and creates a pro-regenerative environment.” Nature Medicine 23, no. 6 (2017): 775-81.
doi:10.1038/nm.4324.
Adapted from press release by the Uslan National Institute of Science and Technology.