Targeting senescent cells improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury

Persistent senescence was shown to be deleterious for tissue repair. A team led by Leonor Saude from iMM in collaboration with Antonio Jacinto lab from CEDOC demonstrated that upon a spinal cord injury, senescent cells start to accumulate at the lesion periphery. Targeting senescent cells through the administration of senolytic drugs improved functional recovery after injury as it promoted myelin sparing, reduced fibrotic scar and attenuated inflammation, which correlated with decreased levels of pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory factors in the microenvironment. The paper entitled "Targeting senescent cells improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury" was published in Cell Reports.