Selective senescence

A group at the Erasmus University Rotterdam has devised a strategy for inducing apoptosis only in senescent cells, and used it to create a cell-permeable peptide that it hopes to take to the clinic to treat cancers driven by senescent cells. By avoiding killing normal cells, the peptide overcomes one of the biggest liabilities that has plagued compounds in the field thus far.

The potential therapeutic value of rooting out senescent cells has been gaining attention as evidence mounts that accumulation of the cells over time promotes age-related diseases by causing persistent, low-level inflammation...