What’s that inside our livers? Could it be the undead?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
When cells can no longer divide, they die. But sometimes…they become zombies! Scientists call this cellular senescence. In this state, cells release chemicals that can make other cells sick.
Hmmmm… could liver disease be a consequence?
Enter Ivan Salladay-Perez and team from UCLA.
They discovered a group of zombie-like macrophages in the diseased livers of mice and humans! These are really important immune cells. The good news? Removing these zombie cells in mice made for a healthier liver. Promising for us humans!
Meantime, I’m working on my Thriller dance moves… errr… make those, liver dance moves.
Salladay-Perez, I. A., Avila, I., Estrada, L., Alexandru, A. C., Ponce, C., Dhingra, A., Torres, G., Deng, C. Y., Hegde, R., Gensheimer, J., Kale, A., Heckenbach, I., Hui, S., Edillor, C., Soto, J. A., Napior, A. J., Little, I., Larsen, M., Rose, J., & Farahi, L. (2026). p21+TREM2+ senescent macrophages fuel inflammaging and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Nature Aging, 6(4), 792–815. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-026-01101-6