CAR-T Cells as Senolytics: Targeting uPAR
A 2020 Memorial Sloan Kettering patent application proposes engineered CAR-T cells targeting the surface protein uPAR for selective elimination of senescent cells, placing an immune-cell modality within the senolytic intervention class.
Patent application WO2020160518A1 (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, August 2020) proposes using CAR-T cells (engineered immune cells) for selective elimination of senescent cells. The target is uPAR, a protein the application designates as a cell surface and secreted senescence biomarker.
Senolytic compounds (agents for selective elimination of senescent cells) typically act on cell signaling pathways, restoring the cell's capacity for apoptosis (programmed cell death) or triggering it directly. This application proposes a different approach: immune cells engineered to recognize uPAR on the surface of senescent cells and destroy them.
The open question is how specific uPAR is to senescent cells. If the protein is also present on healthy cells, the CAR-T cells could hypothetically damage them as well. The available excerpt does not establish uPAR's specificity, the approach's efficacy, or its safety. The application's legal status is Ceased.
📄 WO2020160518A1: Senolytic CAR-T Cells Targeting uPAR
🔗 Senolytics on Eternal Search
Sources
[1] WO2020160518A1 - Senolytic car-t cells targeting upar, a cell ...
The edge has confidence 0.99 and is grounded directly in the patent text: the construct is explicitly named 'senolytic CAR-T cells', uPAR is identified as a surface senescence biomarker, and the intended action is selective elimination of senescent cells. The edge is substantively notable because it extends the senolytic class beyond small-molecule apoptosis triggers to programmed immune cells with a surface-recognition step.