[LUM#11] All the Hype About Senescent Cells
Comparing senescent cells—which accumulate in our joints as we age—to a noisy neighbor in an apartment building: you’d have to think of that. This funny and striking analogy earned Yassin Tachikart, a doctoral student in biology, victory in the regional final of the “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” competition and a spot in the national final.
For the second consecutive year, the Stem Cells, Cellular Plasticity, Regenerative Medicine, and Immunotherapy Laboratory has provided the Occitanie region with its winner of the “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” competition. Yassin Tachikart followed in the footsteps of Nadège Nziza by winning the regional final of the competition before advancing, alongside Valentin Chaput—the second contestant from Montpellier—to the national grand finale, which took place in Grenoble last June.
Beneficial Cells
Yassin Tachikart, a doctoral student at Inserm under the supervision of Jean-Marc Brondello, is pursuing a dual degree in pharmacy and biology and has been working for three years on the role of stem cell senescence in knee osteoarthritis.“The scientific definition of senescence is the cessation of proliferation,” explains the young researcher. “A senescent cell is a cell that can no longer divide.”
Contrary to popular belief, senescent cells play a role in our bodies throughout our lives—and a particularly beneficial one at that, since“fundamentally, these cells help repair damaged tissue by inducing the differentiation of surrounding cells or by engaging the immune system,” explains the doctoral student. Similarly, when a cell accumulates mutations and is at risk of becoming cancerous, senescence acts as a defense mechanism.“To prevent the onset of cancer and uncontrolled cell division, these cells will undergo senescence and be eliminated by the immune system. So in theory, yes, it’s really amazing!”
An accumulation associated with aging
Problem: For various reasons related to aging, these cells appear more quickly or are no longer properly eliminated, and they end up accumulating in the joints. They then disrupt their environment by releasing inflammatory molecules that cause diseases such as osteoarthritis. To use Yassin’s analogy, they become “that neighbor who, at 4 a.m., turns the music up full blast and wakes up the whole building.”
In his dissertation, which he will defend in October 2019, the researcher highlighted“the role of a protein that causes joint cell senescence. It could enable us to identify new therapeutic targets. ” Part of this research is expected to be published shortly in the scientific journal *Aging* and has already been published in the journal *Les cahiers de myologie* (“Targeting Senescent Cells,” 2018) .
Ways to do this
A fitting conclusion for the man who, on stage at the MT180, proposed no longer“adding years to life, but life to years.” In the meantime, at 28, his own life lies ahead of him. And while Yassin has no shortage of plans, he prefers to remain open to all opportunities. “What I really want is to do research. Whether in the public sector, in the private sector through a startup, in France, or abroad—as long as I’m given the resources, I’ll go.” Research worth following to help us look forward to our golden years with greater peace of mind.
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