When aging gets on the way of disposal: Senescent cell suppression of efferocytosis

Abstract

Chronic senescence can trigger pathological inflammation. In this issue, Schloesser et al. (2022. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202207097) demonstrate that senescent cells employ “don’t eat me” signals that inhibit the ability of macrophages to engulf them and additionally prevent macrophages from removing neighboring corpses, revealing a new mechanism by which senescence may contribute to triggering inflammation.