Targeted nanoparticles resolved tissue scarring in mice
In mouse experiments, targeted drug delivery restored lung and liver function, reduced toxicity and made liver and lung cancers more responsive to immunotherapy.
Limit: Fibrosis was measured in lung and liver; other organs were not measured
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In mice, experiments discussed in this commentary used nanoparticles to deliver drugs to selected senescent cells in scarred tissues. Senescence is a state in which cells stop dividing. The particles targeted P-selectin, a cell-surface protein, on senescent macrophages, a type of immune cell. They avoided uptake by beneficial senescent endothelial cells, which line blood vessels.
The targeted delivery resolved fibrosis, or tissue scarring, restored lung and liver function and reduced drug toxicity in mice. In mouse tumor models, targeting this small macrophage subset overcame scarring-related exclusion of immune cells and made liver and lung cancers more responsive to immunotherapy directed at T cells, another type of immune cell. Separately, macrophages bearing P-selectin and senescent features were enriched in scarred human tissues and samples from patients with treatment-resistant cancer.
Why it matters
Senescent cells can play different roles in fibrosis and cancer. The authors present selective drug delivery as a platform for advancing more specific, less toxic senescence-targeting treatments for chronic disease.
Caveats
This commentary summarizes another study rather than reporting new experiments. Treatment benefits were reported in mice; the human findings concerned cell features in tissue samples, not treatment outcomes.
- Senescence-modulating nanoparticles
- T cell-directed immunotherapy
- SELP
- Cellular senescence
- Liver cancer
- Mice
The paper
Senescence-modulating nanoparticles SELECT the right senescent cells to treat fibrosis and cancer
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School Worcester
Cancer Research, Oct 30, 2026
