UConn Health scientists have discovered that eliminating old, dysfunctional—senescent—cells in human fat can alleviate characteristic signs of diabetes. Their studies showed that using two experimental drugs, dasatinib and quercetin, as a treatment to target a particular population of senescent cells in immunodeficient mice carrying human fat implants almost completely eliminated the adverse effects of the fat tissue. The team claims the discovery could lead to new treatments for type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. “These drugs can make human fat healthy, and that could be great,” said research lead Ming Xu, PhD, assistant professor in the UConn Center on Aging and the department of genetics and genome sciences at UConn Health. “The results were very impressive and cleared the route for potential clinical trials.”
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