Scientists at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that old and damaged blood vessel cells may be an important cause of metabolic disorders like diabetes.
Their new study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, could help lead to new treatments for these diseases, which are often hard to manage.
As people gain weight, their bodies collect more “senescent” cells.
These are cells that have stopped dividing but haven’t died. Some of these cells are helpful—such as when the body is healing a wound—but others can cause harm. Harmful senescent cells are linked to many health problems that come with age.
Dr. Masayoshi Suda, the lead author of the study, explained that his team wants to find and remove only the bad senescent cells without touching the helpful ones.
In earlier research, scientists showed that using special drugs called senolytics to clear senescent cells can improve how the body handles energy and sugar. In this new study, the team focused specifically on old blood vessel cells. These cells are important because blood vessels carry oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body.
The scientists used obese mice in the lab and removed their senescent blood vessel cells. After this, the mice had lower inflammation, less body fat, and better blood sugar levels. This meant that removing these aged cells helped improve their health in multiple ways.
In another test, the scientists took old blood vessel cells and placed them into lean mice. These healthy mice soon developed more inflammation in their fat tissue and began showing signs of poor metabolism.
Dr. Suda explained that these blood vessel cells were releasing large amounts of inflammatory molecules, which made the problem worse.
Next, the researchers tested a natural compound called fisetin. Fisetin is a plant-based compound that has shown senolytic effects in earlier studies.
When they gave fisetin to both groups of mice—the obese ones and the lean ones with transplanted aged cells—the mice showed fewer harmful blood vessel cells and their diabetes symptoms improved. The team also treated fat tissue samples from obese humans with fisetin and found similar results: fewer old blood vessel cells.
Dr. James Kirkland, another lead author on the study and director of the Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics, said that early studies like this one are important for moving aging research toward real-world treatments.
He hopes that senolytics like fisetin can one day be used to treat not just diabetes but many age-related diseases at the same time.
The next step for the team is to test fisetin in clinical trials with human patients. If the results are positive, this could be a new way to treat diabetes by targeting aging cells in the body—something that could also help with other diseases that come with age.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about diabetes and vitamin B12, and the right diet for people with type 2 diabetes.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how to eat smart with diabetes, and turmeric and vitamin D: a duo for blood pressure control in diabetic patients.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
