Geriatric patients are particularly vulnerable to trauma, which is a leading cause of disability, institutionalization, and mortality in the elderly. Despite the high clinical importance, trauma in aged individuals remains understudied, largely due to the complex biological processes involved. This lack of biomedical understanding has resulted in limited effective treatment options for improving recovery and reducing frailty after injury in older adults. Recent research has identified cellular senescence – a state in which cells stop dividing and release pro-inflammatory signals into their surroundings – as a key factor that increases systemically with age and locally at sites of injury. We found that older animals exhibit exaggerated inflammation and increased frailty following trauma, closely mirroring the clinical situation in elderly patients. This suggests that senescent cells contribute significantly to trauma-induced frailty.

We know that senescent cells can be selectively eliminated using senolytic drugs, many of which are already being tested in clinical trials for age-related conditions. Thus, our project aims to use senolytics to treat trauma-induced frailty by targeting both systemic senescent cells present in peripheral organs due to aging and local senescent cells that accumulate in injured skin. By administering senolytics either systemically or locally, we will unravel the relative contributions of age-induced and trauma-induced senescent cells to systemic inflammation and frailty. This approach will allow us to determine which senescent cell populations contribute most significantly to the detrimental inflammatory response after trauma.

The study by Mikolaj Ogrodnik and his team addresses critical unanswered questions about senolytic therapy, including which route of administration is most effective, which senescent cell types are more resistant or sensitive to treatment, and what impact senolytics have on trauma-induced frailty in aged organisms. This will be one of the first studies to directly compare the systemic inflammatory contributions of senescent cells from different sources and to evaluate the therapeutic potential of senolytics in trauma-induced frailty in aged animals. The data generated will be invaluable for translating senolytic therapies into clinical practice to improve outcomes for elderly trauma patients. By targeting the cellular mechanisms that underlie trauma-induced frailty, this research has the potential to significantly enhance recovery and quality of life in aging populations.