It’s not the fountain of youth, but a fast-emerging class of drugs could bring us closer to achieving the age-old quest for longer life, better health, and greater vitality. The drugs, called senolytics, carry out search-and-destroy missions against senescent cells, which are linked to aging. Early in life, senescent cells support crucial functions such as embryonic tissue development and later wound repair. They also send signals that cause women to go into labor and initiate live birth. But senescent cells stop dividing over time—that is how they function. They accumulate in the body and release harmful molecules that contribute to arthritis, osteoporosis, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and many other age-related conditions and afflictions. They were recently shown to be a major mediator of fatalities in coronavirus-infected mice, possibly explaining the increased susceptibility of older people to COVID-19.
