A Spark of Hope for Alzheimer's

See? I Told You to Bone Up on Senolytics

[OK, this is more mouse research... but exciting!]

 Published Wednesday, 19 September in Nature Magazine... one of the Super Journals (meaning they are as credible as they come, science-journal-wise), a paper based on research done at Mayo Clinic, a pretty good outfit.

  Published: 

Clearance of senescent glial cells prevents tau-dependent pathology and cognitive decline

If you keep up on Alzheimer's research, you recognize "tau-dependent," and if you don't, you surely know about cognitive decline. That and memory loss are the heart-ripping Alzheimer's symptoms we'd all like to avoid. 

If You Are Interested in the Science

Put your science hat on and take a look at the abstract (free) in Nature.
Or read a (also free) layperson version.  Here's a short one (written for Big Pharma money men).
                                                                 Here's a longer one (written for "age extension" fans.)

For The-Long-and-Short-of-It Fans:

Getting senescent cells out of the brain (of a mouse) greatly improves the Alzheimer's Curse. The gumming up of the brain cells with Tau-tangles is reduced. Most significantly (to me) is that the decline in proper thinking - "cognition" - is greatly slowed down.  

Senescent cell =  a cell in a state of arrested growth in which cells stop dividing yet linger around, a very hot topic in medical research these days. 

NOW THE EVEN-BETTER NEWS:

I'm guessing we don't have to wait years for the mouse findings to go through human trials for confirmation. BECAUSE "Senescent cell properties can be found in the affected tissues of patients with age-related diseases such as osteoarthritis, pulmonary fibrosis, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's," sayeth the National Institutes of Health.  And we're talking humans here.  

...AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL - SENOLYTICS

There are ways to "Clear" some of those bad old senescent cells, and better ways a'coming.
The Mayo Clinic folks mixed a leukemia drug and an over-the-counter supplement
Senolytics are a class of drugs which selectively eliminate senescent cells. In this study, Dr. Kirkland’s team used a combination of dasatinib and quercetin (D+Q) to test whether this senolytic combination could slow physical dysfunction caused by senescent cells. Dasatinib is used to treat some forms of leukemia; quercetin is a plant flavanol found in some fruits and vegetables.

There is a lot of research into finding drugs that are effective senolytics, but where you get your vitamins and other supplements, you can buy QUERCETIN. It gets listed as a "probable" senolytic, and since Mayo used it, I'm thinking it might actually be one.


I haven't researched these two* at all, but most of what I read about quercetin sounds good. Better will be coming. You can bet on it, because anything that smells like progress on Alzheimer's gets a ton of attention, and very big research investments.  [The very first human trial designed to test senolytic drugs was announced less than a week ago, with most of the world probably completely oblivious to it and what its success might represent for the future of medicine. We’re talking about UNITY Biotechnology’s announcement that its candidate senolytic drug UBX0101 is now being tested in human patients who suffer from osteoarthritis.] LEAFScience.org

Now, let's all put off getting Alzheimer's until the cure arrives. It's looking good!


*P.S. (old way of saying BTW)
         Other supplements listed as maybe senolytic
  • Piperlongumine, a natural product derived from the fruit of the Asian Long pepper; and
  • Fisetin, a flavonoid and antioxidant.




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