Immune checkpoint inhibitors as senolytic agents

Senolysis, the elimination of senescent cells (SNCs), is a novel therapeutic concept for the treatment of aging and age-related diseases that has scored a first success in the clinic for the treatment of diabetic macular edema with UBX1325. In a recent Nature paper, Wang et al. now report that subsets of SNCs express PD-L1 and describe a novel mode of senolysis through clearance of these cells by immune checkpoint inhibitors.