On Jun. 8, 2021, Mayo Clinic researchers and colleagues at the University of Minnesota showed that COVID-19 exacerbates the damaging impact of senescent cells in the body. In preclinical studies, the senolytic drugs discovered at Mayo significantly reduced inflammation, illness, and mortality from COVID infection in older mice.

The researchers found that older mice infected with viruses, including a coronavirus related to SARS-CoV-2 using a model, showed an amplified reaction, with increased senescent cells, inflammation, and nearly 100 % mortality. When the researchers treated similar mice – before or after the infection – with senolytics, drugs that selectively remove senescent cells from the body, the result was the opposite. Anti-viral antibodies increased, while signs of inflammation and senescent cells significantly decreased along with mortality, so survival of the old, infected mice became more like that of younger mice.

The findings appear in the journal Science.