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Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders

Abstract

Advanced age is the main risk factor for most chronic diseases and functional deficits in humans, but the fundamental mechanisms that drive ageing remain largely unknown, impeding the development of interventions that might delay or prevent age-related disorders and maximize healthy lifespan. Cellular senescence, which halts the proliferation of damaged or dysfunctional cells, is an important mechanism to constrain the malignant progression of tumour cells1,2. Senescent cells accumulate in various tissues and organs with ageing3 and have been hypothesized to disrupt tissue structure and function because of the components they secrete4,5. However, whether senescent cells are causally implicated in age-related dysfunction and whether their removal is beneficial has remained unknown. To address these fundamental questions, we made use of a biomarker for senescence, p16Ink4a, to design a novel transgene, INK-ATTAC, for inducible elimination of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells upon administration of a drug. Here we show that in the BubR1 progeroid mouse background, INK-ATTAC removes p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells upon drug treatment. In tissues—such as adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and eye—in which p16Ink4a contributes to the acquisition of age-related pathologies, life-long removal of p16Ink4a-expressing cells delayed onset of these phenotypes. Furthermore, late-life clearance attenuated progression of already established age-related disorders. These data indicate that cellular senescence is causally implicated in generating age-related phenotypes and that removal of senescent cells can prevent or delay tissue dysfunction and extend healthspan.

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Figure 1: Generation and characterization of INK-ATTAC transgenic mice.
Figure 2: BubR1 H/H ;INK-ATTAC mice treated with AP20187 from weaning age on show delayed onset of p16 Ink4a -mediated age-related phenotypes.
Figure 3: AP20187-treated BubR1 H/H ;INK-ATTAC mice have reduced numbers of p16 Ink4a -positive senescent cells.
Figure 4: Treatment of older BubR1 H/H ;INK-ATTAC mice with AP20187 delays progression of p16 Ink4a -mediated age-related phenotypes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Zhou, D. Norris, T. Mann, U. Moedder, T. Pirtskhalava and S. Yamada for assistance; S. Khosla, T. von Zglinicki, L. Malureanu, R. Ricke and P. Galardy, and members of the J.M.v.D. laboratory for helpful discussions; and P. Scherer for the gift of the aP2-ATTAC plasmid. This work was supported by the Ellison Medical Foundation (J.M.v.D.), the Noaber Foundation (J.M.v.D. and J.L.K.), the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, and the National Institutes of Health (CA96985, J.M.v.D. and AG13925, J.L.K.).

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D.J.B., T.T., J.L.K., and J.M.v.D designed the INK-ATTAC strategy. D.J.B. and T.W. performed most of the experiments, T.T. did the rosiglitazone experiments, N.K.L. and B.G.C. assisted with the analysis of muscle functionality and in vitro senescence, respectively, and B.v.d.S. helped supervise T.W. The manuscript was written by D.J.B. and J.M.v.D. All authors discussed results, made figures and edited the manuscript. J.M.v.D. directed and supervised all aspects of the study.

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Correspondence to Jan M. van Deursen.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Baker, D., Wijshake, T., Tchkonia, T. et al. Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders. Nature 479, 232–236 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10600

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