What are senescent cells doing in our bodies?

Question

I'm reading a paper that mentioned the elimination of senescent cells delays aging. I'd like to receive more information about it.The Baker study published in Nature demonstrates that targeted elimination of senescent cells in mice results in remarkable protection from several age-related pathologies, cancer, and makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy. I know that senescent cells drive aging, and induce cancer. Can we grow them in cell culture as a kind of stem cells ? How might they contribute to the aging process ?

Answer 1

In terms of using them a stems cell you can't and here is why. A stem cell is by definition an undifferentiated cell, the exist as a way to repair older or damaged cells as way as help with develop in the uterus. Senescence cell is a can be thought as in a vegetative state. it not "dead" but functionally is useless because it can no longer perform mitosis and replace it self. It easy to understand that over time these cell accumulate until there not enough functioning self to perform task in body. Which is part of the aging process. Worse that Senescent cell also speed up the process for the cell around it by producing toxic that cause more damage, which makes aging faster.