An aged immune system drives senescence and ageing of solid organs.

Ageing of the immune system, or immunosenescence, contributes to the morbidity and mortality of the elderly. To define the contribution of immune system ageing to organism ageing, here we selectively deleted Ercc1, which encodes a crucial DNA repair protein, in mouse haematopoietic cells to increase the burden of endogenous DNA damage and thereby senescence in the immune system only. We show that Vav-iCre;Ercc1 mice were healthy into adulthood, then displayed premature onset of immunosenescence characterized by attrition and senescence of specific immune cell populations and impaired immune function, similar to changes that occur during ageing in wild-type mice.

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles reduce senescence and extend health span in mouse models of aging.

Aging drives progressive loss of the ability of tissues to recover from stress, partly through loss of somatic stem cell function and increased senescent burden. We demonstrate that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) rapidly senescence and become dysfunctional in culture. Injection of BM-MSCs from young mice prolonged life span and health span, and conditioned media (CM) from young BM-MSCs rescued the function of aged stem cells and senescent fibroblasts.

Treating Age-Related Diseases with Somatic Stem Cells.

Life expectancy in the developed world has advanced beyond the number of years in which healthy tissue homeostasis can be maintained, and as a result, the number of persons with severe and debilitating chronic illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease has continued to rise. One of the key underlying causes for the loss in the ability to replenish damaged tissues is the qualitative and quantitative decline in somatic stem cell populations. A concerted effort to understand why aging adult stem cells fail to maintain "stem" potential while simultaneously developing new strategies and therapeutic interventions to prevent or reverse age-dependent stem cell decline is required to improve the overall healthspan of our rapidly aging population.

Identification of HSP90 inhibitors as a novel class of senolytics.

Aging is the main risk factor for many chronic degenerative diseases and cancer. Increased senescent cell burden in various tissues is a major contributor to aging and age-related diseases. Recently, a new class of drugs termed senolytics were demonstrated to extending healthspan, reducing frailty and improving stem cell function in multiple murine models of aging.

Cellular senescence mediates fibrotic pulmonary disease.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal disease characterized by interstitial remodelling, leading to compromised lung function. Cellular senescence markers are detectable within IPF lung tissue and senescent cell deletion rejuvenates pulmonary health in aged mice. Whether and how senescent cells regulate IPF or if their removal may be an efficacious intervention strategy is unknown.