Cellular Senescence in Skeletal Disease: Mechanisms and Treatment

Overview

Journal Cell Mol Biol Lett

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Biochemistry
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2023 Oct 27

PMID 37891477

Authors

Xu He

Wei Hu

Yuanshu Zhang

Mimi Chen

Yicheng Ding

Huilin Yang

Fan He

Qiaoli Gu

Qin Shi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The musculoskeletal system supports the movement of the entire body and provides blood production while acting as an endocrine organ. With aging, the balance of bone homeostasis is disrupted, leading to bone loss and degenerative diseases, such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and intervertebral disc degeneration. Skeletal diseases have a profound impact on the motor and cognitive abilities of the elderly, thus creating a major challenge for both global health and the economy. Cellular senescence is caused by various genotoxic stressors and results in permanent cell cycle arrest, which is considered to be the underlying mechanism of aging. During aging, senescent cells (SnCs) tend to aggregate in the bone and trigger chronic inflammation by releasing senescence-associated secretory phenotypic factors. Multiple signalling pathways are involved in regulating cellular senescence in bone and bone marrow microenvironments. Targeted SnCs alleviate age-related degenerative diseases. However, the association between senescence and age-related diseases remains unclear. This review summarises the fundamental role of senescence in age-related skeletal diseases, highlights the signalling pathways that mediate senescence, and discusses potential therapeutic strategies for targeting SnCs.

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