New research suggests that senolytic drugs, which remove harmful senescent cells that accumulate during aging, may be an effective therapy for glaucoma, a common age-related condition that leads to loss of vision.

In the short term, inflammation serves a useful purpose, as it helps to spur the repair and regeneration of tissue and rallies the immune system to defend against marauding invaders.

However, the chronic, smoldering, low-grade inflammation that occurs during aging can be incredibly harmful. The sources of this “inflammaging,” as some researchers describe it, include (but are not limited to) dysfunctional immune cells, cell debris, disruption to the gut microbiome, and senescent cells. Today, we are concerned about the latter after the release of a new study focusing on senescent cells and glaucoma [1].