To Find and Destroy: Identification and Elimination of Senescent Cells

Abstract

“Our oldness is a disease that has to be treated like any other one,”—this statement formulated about a hundred years ago seems to be of current interest in the context of modern investigations. Recently, it has been established that accumulation of senescent cells in various organs and tissues is one of the main causes for the organismal aging, as well as for the progression of multiple age-related pathologies. On the one hand, this observation brings us one step closer to the desired goal—reversal or slowing down of aging. On the other hand, this raises a number of complicated questions: in what essentially lies the difference between senescent and normal cells and how they can be identified; whether senescent cells can be eliminated from the body and can this elimination stop/reverse aging; can such a targeted removal of senescent cells be accompanied by negative consequences, in particular, by an increase in the cancer incidence? This review summarizes the main features of senescent cells, surveys the existing approaches of targeted elimination of senescent cells in vivo, and highlights their advantages and disadvantages.