Targeting senescent cells in kidney disease, heart disease & diabetes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Targeting senescent cells in kidney disease, heart disease & diabetes (TarSEC)
IRAS ID
326318
Contact name
Katie Mylonas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Some kidney cells become old or ‘senescent’ as a person gets older, or in disease. These cells produce harmful secretions causing kidney and heart scarring and preventing repair. Eliminating senescent cells increases healthy lifespan in mice. They are associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart disease and diabetes. Higher numbers of senescent cells in kidney transplants reduce the length of time they function. Our research showed removing senescent kidney cells in mice using drugs before inducing kidney injury led to much less scarring and better kidney function.
Special white blood cells in the body, called macrophages and natural killer cells, find and destroy senescent cells but this decreases as a person gets older and with disease. I will investigate how age and disease (CKD/heart disease/diabetes) reduces these cells ability to find and destroy senescent cells. Our aim is to develop better treatments for patients that help prevent build-up of these harmful cells in the organs that lead to organ scarring.
This work will involve taking blood from patients with CKD, heart disease and diabetes. We will then extract the white blood cells from the blood to discover how disease affects the ability of these cells to find and eliminate the harmful senescent cells.REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
23/NI/0064
Date of REC Opinion
10 May 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion