With age cells increasingly enter a state of senescence, normally apoptosis and the immune system clear these cells away, but these systems decline with age leaving increasing numbers to accumulate and emit a range of harmful pro-inflammatory signals leading to nearby cells entering the same state, impaired tissue repair, chronic inflammation, progression of osteoarthritis, atherosclerosis, cancer, other age related diseases, and aging itself.
Senolytics may be a therapy which could remove these senescent cells, of which the flavonoid fisetin a naturally occurring plant polyphenol found within numerous fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, onions, persimmon, apples, grapes, and most notably strawberries. Senolytic compounds represent a true rejuvenation and antiaging biotechnology that potentially could address aging processes, science is closer than ever to seeing if the results seen in other species can translate to humans. Given the poor history of translations from mice to humans it is best not to get overly excited, yet there is reason to be hopefully optimistic given than these therapies target aging process common to both species.
Fisetin comes from the same compound family as other senolytic such as quercetin, fisetin appears to work on its own while quercetin only appears to work when used in combination with dasatinib. There was only cell data for fisetin until recently as a mice study has shown impressive results against senescent cells with effectiveness close to that of dasatinib.
According to these results depending on tissue/organ type fisetin destroyed 25-50% of senescent cells in mice given 100/mg/kg daily for 5 days. Although the dose was high it is not unusual given the low bioavailability of flavonoids, and no adverse effects were reported. The natural compound displayed senotherapeutic activity in both mice and human tissues; with even late life interventions being observed to yield potent health benefits. Researchers suggest that these characteristics warrant benefit and feasibility to translation into human clinical studies; concluding that their results suggest that fisetin supplementation or intermittent treatment with this natural and safe product could improve healthy aging even in the elderly.
