Researchers from Mayo Clinic and their colleagues at the University of Minnesota showed that COVID-19 exacerbates the harmful consequences of senescent cells in the body. In preclinical studies, senolytic drugs discovered in Mayo significantly reduced inflammation, disease, and mortality due to covid infection in elderly mice. The results are published in the journal Science.
Senescent cells (damaged or useless cells that remain in the body) contribute in many ways to aging and to conditions such as inflammation and various chronic diseases. Using the senescent cell “rheostat or amplifier hypothesis” developed in May, researchers set out to discover why COVID-19 mortality is so much higher among the elderly and chronically ill. They showed that human senescent cells respond in an amplified way to the spicular protein S of SARS and this causes them to increase the production of factors that cause inflammation and tissue damage.
The researchers also found that elderly mice that were infected with viruses, including a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus, using a model developed at the University of Minnesota, showed an amplified reaction, with more senescent cells, inflammation. and a mortality of almost 100 percent. When the researchers treated similar mice with senolytics (drugs that selectively remove senescent cells from the body), either before or after infection, the result was the opposite. Antiviral antibodies increased, while signs of inflammation and senescent cells decreased, as did mortality, and thus the likelihood that old and infected mice would survive better than younger mice increased.
The researchers suggest that reducing the existing weight of senescent cells in older or chronically ill patients can improve their resilience and reduce the risk of dying from viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. At the moment, three of these clinical trials are ongoing.
“Despite the increase in vaccination, senolytics are still useful for those who cannot receive the vaccine and, especially, for the elderly who live in nursing homes and have comorbidities or immune problems”, comments the Dr. James Kirkland, director of Kogod Center for Aging, along with Dr. Tamar Tchkonia, Mayo Clinic expert author on the study. The work suggests that senolytics can also improve the response of the elderly to vaccines and help them fight other viral and bacterial infections.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Connor Fund, Messrs. Robert J. and Theresa W. Ryan, Messrs. Robert P. Arlene R. Kogod, the Noaber Foundation, the Institute for Translational Sciences from the University of Minnesota, the Team for Medical Discoveries on the Biology of Aging, and the Irene Diamond Fund for the X Doctoral Transition Award from the American Federation for Research on Aging. It also had the support of the director Fesler-Lampert for studies on aging and the AFAR award to the beginning teacher.
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Information about Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization dedicated to innovating clinical practice, education and research, as well as offering expertise, compassion and answers to all who need to regain health. I visited the Mayo Clinic Information Network to read more news about Mayo Clinic. For information on COVID-19, including Mayo Clinic’s tool to track coronavirus on the map and view the 14-day prognosis for the disease, visit the COVID-19 Resource Center at Mayo Clinic.
Contact for the media:
Bob Nellis, Mayo Clinic Public Relations, [email protected]
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