On December 7, the world’s top scientific journal Nature Metabolism released a major research paper, "The flavonoid procyanidin C1 has senotherapeutic activity and increases lifespan in mice". In this study, a Chinese research team has identified PCC1 (procyanidin C1) from a specific grape seed extract. PCC1 can efficiently and safely remove senescent cells and help extend the median healthy lifespan of aging mice by 64.2% when administered alone.
In early 2019, a team of American scientists published "the research results of dasatinib + quercetin in the treatment of an age-related fatal disease in humans" for the first time on EbioMedicine, bringing to light this anti-aging "star twins" and providing new technical support for the development of anti-aging products. Dasatinib, quercetin and fisetin are Senolytics, which mean "destroying aging" and refer to a large class of drugs that selectively remove SCs (senescent cells) by interfering with the SC signaling pathway and temporarily "suspending" the anti-apoptotic pathway. As early as 2019, when celebrating its 150th anniversary, Nature listed "removal of senescent cells" as one of the top 7 anti-aging technologies. The product research and development of Senolytics was listed as one of the top 10 breakthrough technologies in the world by MIT Technology Review in 2020. However, the side effects of long-term use of Senolytics cannot be ignored, which include anemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia. Even though intermittent dosing can effectively reduce these side effects to a large extent, the limited efficacy and the continued cytotoxicity still impede the clinical use of most Senolytics. Therefore, the search for Senolytics with fewer side effects and better targeted removal ability has become a common goal in the global aging research field.
In this study, the Chinese research team chose grape seed extract, which has the most potential in "targeting senescent cells", to conduct a more in-depth study and successfully extracted PCC1 (Procyanidin C1). Compared with dasatinib + quercetin, the anti-aging "star twins", PCC1 can selectively, efficiently and safely remove senescent cells without the disadvantages of cell type dependence, high toxicity to non-senescent cells and low efficiency of senescent cell removal. In addition to discovering the anti-aging ability of PCC1 to target and remove senescent cells, the team found another potential of PCC1: it may inhibit tumor development. The researchers found that PCC1 alone, when injected into tumor-bearing model mice, had no effect on the tumor cells. But when PCC1 and chemotherapeutics "cooperated", the killing effect of chemotherapeutics on tumor cells increased exponentially. With the help of PCC1, the chemotherapeutic efficacy has been improved, and the survival period of model mice during the intervention has also been lengthened by 48.1%, which is quite amazing.