🔹The increasing incidence of age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, which are linked to impaired immune responses.
🔹Aging leads to a decline in the immune system, making older individuals more vulnerable to infections and chronic diseases.
🔹Cellular senescence refers to a state where cells cease to divide and enter permanent cell cycle arrest, often due to DNA damage or stress.
These senescent cells secrete pro-inflammatory factors and contribute to tissue aging and dysfunction.
🔹Hallmarks of Senescence:
Persistent DNA damage
Cell cycle arrest (mediated by proteins like p16 and p21)
Resistance to apoptosis
The secretion of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP)
🔹T Cells and Aging:
Aging affects T cells, leading to thymic involution (shrinkage of the thymus) and a decline in naïve T cell production.
Immunosenescent T cells, may express markers such as CD28null, CD57, and KLRG-1.
🔹Immunosenescent T cells are compared to exhausted T cells, which lose effector functions after chronic antigen stimulation.
Exhausted T cells express markers like PD-1, CTLA-4, and TIM-3 and are more prone to apoptosis.
🔸 The document highlights the differences between these two populations of T cells and their respective roles in aging and disease.
🔹Senolytics, drugs that selectively eliminate senescent cells, and immunotherapies that could rejuvenate or restore the function of aged T cells.
🔹The potential use of CAR T cells engineered to target senescent cells as a promising therapeutic approach.
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