Senolytics of the new generation
A research team from the University of Leicester collaborated with colleagues from the University of Oberta de Catalunya in Spain, the Cross River University of Technology in Nigeria, Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia and the pharmaceutical company Abzena to develop a strategy for targeted removal of aging cells using antibodies.
Cell aging is an irreversible phenomenon that occurs when the natural process of cell division stops in human tissues. It is believed that it contributes to the development of aging itself, as well as various diseases associated with aging, including Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes and various types of cancer.
It is known that the removal of aging cells from tissues slows down age-related degeneration and increases life expectancy in animal models. The difficulty is to find a way to achieve this effect in humans.
Taking as a basis an idea already used in cancer therapy, the authors tuned the antibodies so that they could recognize aging cells and deliver toxic cargo only to them. The antibody associated with the cytotoxic drug duocarmycin targets the membrane protein microglobulin β2 (B2M), a marker of aging cells. Currently existing senolytics are rather nonspecific and, therefore, may have pronounced side effects. That is why there is a great interest in targeted senolytics that should eliminate aging cells without affecting the rest. The specificity of the antibodies created in this study depended on the expression of the p53 gene, which increases with the accumulation of DNA damage, resulting in the characteristic stopping of the cell cycle and DNA replication for aging cells. Cells that had not lost their ability to divide were not exposed to antibodies, which confirms the specificity of treatment.
The results of this study can be used as a basis for further development of targeted treatments for aging, which can significantly reduce the prevalence of diseases associated with aging.
Article by M.Poblocka et al. Targeted clearance of senescent cells using an antibody-drug conjugate against a specific membrane marker is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Leicester: New cell treatment could combat aging.