# New insights into the role of cellular senescence and rheumatic diseases

## TL;DR

This review explores how cellular aging contributes to rheumatic diseases and highlights potential new treatments, including traditional Chinese medicine.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of cellular senescence mechanisms and their role in rheumatic diseases, emphasizing therapeutic strategies.

## Key findings

- Cellular senescence contributes to the progression of rheumatic diseases through inflammatory pathways.
- Chondrocyte and MSC senescence play key roles in osteoarthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, respectively.
- Targeting senescent cells, especially with traditional Chinese medicine, shows promise as a multi-target therapy.

## Abstract

Rheumatic disease is a chronic inflammatory disease that imposes significant societal and economic burdens. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that cellular senescence plays an important role in inflammation-induced rheumatic diseases. Due to the lack of effective therapies, there is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of the etiopathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. In this review, we systematically summarized the role of cellular senescence in rheumatic diseases. We first focused on the mechanisms and hallmarks of cellular senescence, and then summarized evidence that can induce or aggravate cellular senescence, as well as related signaling pathways. Next, we discussed the mechanisms of interaction between cellular senescence and rheumatic diseases. Additionally, we focused on and elucidated the mechanisms and impacts of chondrocyte senescence and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) senescence in osteoarthritis (OA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), respectively. Finally, we highlighted the potential of therapies targeting senescent cells in rheumatic diseases as a strategy, especially the multi-target effect of traditional Chinese medicine.