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E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20080921214330im_/http://lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/images/tech_images/1028senescent-cell.gif) |
A test developed
by Berkeley National Laboratory researchers uses blue stain
to detect the presence of senescent cells. The assay top left
shows young tissue with no presence of blue; top right is young
sunburned tissue, also negative. Older tissue cells, pictured
in the bottom four assays, contain blue areas revealing evidence
of the existence of senescent cells. |
APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:
- Screen compounds for effects on cell senescence, including high throughput applications
- Pre and post surgical tissue assay
- Cancer and aging research
ADVANTAGES:
This method provides a rapid, convenient and inexpensive basis to:
- Screen biological or pharmaceutical compounds
that have anti-tumor, anti-aging, or proliferation-modulating
properties.
- Identify senescent cells in culture without the use of radioactivity
or costly and time-consuming immunodetection methods.
- Identify senescent cells in situ in tissues or in freshly
isolated cells, to distinguish them from quiescent, terminally
differentiated, or physiologically compromised cells. This will
provide a means to evaluate, in vivo, the physiological,
as opposed to chronological, age of the tissue.
- Separate, quantitate, and culture senescent cells from heterogeneous cell populations.
- Rapidly
provides information useful for pre- and post-surgical diagnoses
and prognoses such as:
- Degree to which benign or malignant tumors have escaped
senescence,
- Regenerative capacity of tissues prior to surgical procedures,
- Extent of proliferative capacity
of a tissue or cell type
ABSTRACT:
Eukaryotic cells, after proceeding through a finite number of cell
divisions, enter a state characterized by irreversible growth arrest
and altered function. Judith Campisi, Goberdhan Dimri and Monica Peacocke at Berkeley Lab believe that entry into this senescent
state is a dominant, genetically controlled process that constitutes
a tumor suppressive mechanism. Berkeley Lab and New England Medical
Center researchers have now developed a convenient, single cell-based
technique that readily identifies senescent cells in heterogeneous
populations. This is the first biomarker of cell senescence that
does not rely on measurements of DNA synthesis for detection. Berkeley
Lab's method clearly distinguishes senescent cells from quiescent,
terminally differentiated or physiologically compromised cells grown
in vitro. This method also identifies the senescent state
in cells of certain tissues grown in vivo, including skin
cells. Berkeley Lab's technique will provide a valuable tool to develop
rational interventions in the areas of aging and cancer. A convenient
kit incorporating Berkeley Lab's procedure, useful to medical staff
in offices and hospitals, would simply, immediately, and inexpensively
aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of a variety of surgical procedures
and pharmaceutical regimens.
STATUS: U.S. Patents #5,491,069
and #5,795,728;
available for licensing
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE:
Dimri,
G.P. et al., "A biomarker that identifies senescent human cells
in culture and in aging skin in vivo," Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci., 1995, 92, 9363-9367.
REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-1036
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CONTACT:
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Technology
Transfer Department
E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
MS 90-1070
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 486-6467 FAX: (510) 486-6457
TTD@lbl.gov |
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