Senotherapeutics for metabolic disease and diabetic complications

🥉 Top 5% JournalNov 5, 2025Journal of internal medicine

Drugs targeting cell aging for metabolic diseases and diabetes complications

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Abstract

Cellular senescence is implicated as a central contributor to metabolic dysfunction in diseases such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Senescent cells accumulate in key metabolic tissues and disrupt their function.
The senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) releases factors that promote insulin resistance and chronic inflammation.
These factors contribute to tissue remodeling and advance the progression of metabolic diseases.
Senotherapeutics, including senolytics, senomorphics, and senosensitizers, aim to address the impact of senescent cells.
Challenges in clinical translation include identifying biomarkers and understanding cellular variations.
Existing antidiabetic agents may influence features of cellular senescence, presenting a translational opportunity.

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Metabolic diseases, including obesity, Type 2 diabetes (T2D), and metabolic syndrome, are increasingly prevalent worldwide, driven by sedentary lifestyles, aging populations, and complex genetic and environmental factors. Traditionally understood as disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism, a growing body of evidence now implicates cellular senescence as a central, age-related contributor to metabolic dysfunction. Senescent cells (SCs) accumulate in key metabolic tissues where they disrupt tissue function through the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), a pro-inflammatory and fibrogenic secretome. SASP factors exacerbate insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and tissue remodeling, advancing the progression and complications of metabolic diseases. These insights have catalyzed the development of senotherapeutics, a class of interventions that includes senolytics (to eliminate SCs), senomorphics (to suppress SASP), and senosensitizers (to render resistant SCs more vulnerable to clearance). Although preclinical studies show promise, translation into clinical practice faces significant challenges, including identifying reliable biomarkers, understanding SC heterogeneity, and optimizing treatment timing and safety. As research advances, senotherapeutics may offer a transformative approach not only to managing metabolic diseases but also to mitigating associated comorbidities. The recognition that antidiabetic agents already in clinical use can modulate key features of senescence highlights a unique translational opportunity, suggesting that prevention of age-related metabolic disorders may be achievable with therapies already available in routine clinical practice. Medicine is poised to enter a new era in which targeting cellular senescence could fundamentally reshape the prevention and treatment of age-related metabolic disorders, offering the potential for improved healthspan and reduced disease burden across the lifespan.

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