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Insights into senolytic drugs for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the brain

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Senescent cells in the brain contribute to age-related neurodegeneration. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human brain organoids, animals and post-mortem brain samples from patients with COVID-19 reveals virus-induced senescence. Pharmacological senolytic treatment following SARS-CoV-2 infection improves COVID-19 neuropathology and could help to protect people from long COVID.

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Fig. 1: Increased accumulation of senescent cells in COVID-19 post-mortem brain samples and SARS-CoV-2-infected human brain organoids.

References

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Aguado, J. et al. Senolytic therapy alleviates physiological human brain aging and COVID-19 neuropathology. Nat. Aging, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00519-6 (2023).

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Insights into senolytic drugs for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the brain. Nat Aging 3, 1480–1481 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00525-8

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