Newswise — BUFFALO, N.Y. — New insights on age-related diseases may hold the key to both delaying aging and, in the process, reducing the occurrence of diseases including cancer. These findings have been reported by a team from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Everon Biosciences in the journal Aging.
“The majority of aging theories agree that chronic inflammation associated with secretions by senescent, or aging, cells are the underlying cause of frailty and of multiple age-related diseases, including cancer,” says senior author Andrei Gudkov, PhD, DSci, Senior Vice President for Basic Science at Roswell Park. “Our study has redefined a subset of these cells as belonging to the category of macrophages. This finding requires a re-interpretation of the mechanisms underlying these cellular targets and a reconsideration of their potential for anti-aging treatments.”
Scientists have named the subtype “senescence-associated macrophages,” or SAMS.
“Our research allowed us to redefine the nature of cells that are sources of poisonous inflammation associated with aging. These cells appear to be not senescent cells, but are actually part of our natural immune system. This finding allows us to identify targets as well as agents that can eradicate senescence-associated macrophages, with the ultimate goal of finding new ways to treat cancer and other age-related diseases,” adds Dr. Gudkov.
Editor’s note: See a video interview with Dr. Andrei Gudkov, lead author of the study, at https://youtu.be/CygsN4WPVjs.
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