{"id":62803,"date":"2026-07-16T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2580031-auto-draft\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:00:00","slug":"restoring-ability-to-remove-zombie-cells-may-keep-us-sharp-as-we-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/07\/16\/restoring-ability-to-remove-zombie-cells-may-keep-us-sharp-as-we-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring ability to remove zombie cells may keep us sharp as we age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Transmission
<\/use><\/svg><\/div>
Transmission electron micrograph of human neutrophils, immune cells that can turn rogue with age<\/div>
ROSSANA MELO\/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we age, our body loses its ability to clear out zombie-like cells that have stopped dividing, instead dripping out poison and turning other cells rogue. Restoring the ability to remove these \u201csenescent\u201d cells prevented signs of cognitive decline and frailty in older mice, with hints that the same outcomes could occur in people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s attractive about this study is that it is not trying to kill [senescent] cells directly,\u201d says Derek Gilroy<\/a> at University College London, who wasn\u2019t involved in the research. \u201cIt is repairing the body\u2019s own waste-disposal system that should have removed them in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead more<\/strong>\n\t\t\t

Is stem cell therapy about to transform medicine and reverse ageing?<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

To better understand why this system goes awry, Katrin Andreasson<\/a> at Stanford University, California, and her colleagues compared mice aged 6 to 8 months (roughly equivalent to people in their 20s) with mice aged 23 to 25 months (equivalent to people in their late 60s or 70s). They found that the older mice had more of these senescent cells in their organs, including the liver and spleen, as well as in their bone marrow.<\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t