Cologne Seminars on Ageing "Identifying, Profiling and Therapeutically Clearing Senescent Cells in Alzheimer’s Disease"

About Miranda' s talk:

Cellular senescence is an apoptosis-resistant cell fate caused by persistent stress or damage. Senescent cells accumulate throughout the body with advanced age and are considered one of the “hallmarks of aging”. If they are not cleared by the immune system, their secretory phenotype becomes toxic to neighboring cells. We, and others, have linked senescent cell accumulation in the brain with Alzheimer's disease-associated neuropathology. Clearing senescent cells improved brain structure and function in mouse models of advanced age and/or neurodegeneration, which inspired the launch of a Phase II trial to test the safety and efficacy of senescent cell removal in older adults with mild cognitive impairment/early Alzheimer’s disease. Here I will discuss progress toward identifying and profiling senescent cell heterogeneity in the brain, including high-resolution spatial proteogenomic maps of senescent cells in mouse and human brains across the adult lifespan, and their implications on cognition and brain function.