{"entity":{"id":"idea-bio1-senolytics-after-therapy","kind":"idea","name":"Clear the zombie cells left behind by chemotherapy and radiotherapy","aka":[],"tldr":"Treatment leaves behind damaged cells that stop dividing but do not die, and they release signals that help surviving cancer cells regrow. Removing them could reduce relapse.","summary":"Therapy-induced senescence produces a secretory phenotype that promotes proliferation, angiogenesis and immune suppression, and senescent tumour cells can re-enter the cell cycle. Senolytics such as navitoclax-class BCL-2 family inhibitors and dasatinib-quercetin combinations clear these cells in models, and a one-two sequence of pro-senescence therapy followed by a senolytic has shown benefit preclinically.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Acquired resistance to every therapy): Soria et al., Osimertinib in untreated EGFR-mutated NSCLC (FLAURA, NEJM 2018)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1713137"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["cytotoxic-chemotherapy"],"targets":["bcl2"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["apoptosis-bcl2"],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-resistance","b-survivorship"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"A senolytic given after therapy-induced senescence reduces relapse rates in models and lowers markers of senescence and inflammation in patients after chemotherapy or radiotherapy.","rationale":"The sequence is mechanistically rational and both halves already exist clinically; senolytics are being tested in ageing and fibrosis, providing safety data.","test":"A window study measuring senescence markers in tumour and normal tissue before and after a short senolytic course following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with residual disease as an exploratory endpoint.","maturity":"preclinical-evidence","actor":"research","cost":"medium","horizonYears":5},"route":"/ideas/idea-bio1-senolytics-after-therapy/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"cytotoxic-chemotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Cytotoxic chemotherapy","route":"/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/"},{"id":"rejuv-frontier-senolytics","kind":"technology","name":"Senolytics after cancer treatment","route":"/technologies/rejuv-frontier-senolytics/"}],"target":[{"id":"bcl2","kind":"target","name":"BCL-2","route":"/targets/bcl2/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"apoptosis-bcl2","kind":"pathway","name":"Intrinsic apoptosis (BCL-2 family)","route":"/pathways/apoptosis-bcl2/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-resistance","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Acquired resistance to every therapy","route":"/bottlenecks/b-resistance/"},{"id":"b-survivorship","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Survivorship and late effects are neglected","route":"/bottlenecks/b-survivorship/"}]}}