Cellular senescence is a programmed state of cell cycle arrest that involves a complex immunogenic secretome, eliciting immune surveillance and senescent cell clearance. Recent work has shown that a subpopulation of pancreatic β-cells becomes senescent in the context of diabetes; however, it is not known whether these cells are normally subject to immune surveillance. In this opinion article, we advance the hypothesis that immune surveillance of β-cells undergoing a senescence stress response normally limits their accumulation during aging and that the breakdown of these mechanisms is a driver of senescent β-cell accumulation in diabetes. Elucidation and therapeutic activation of immune surveillance mechanisms in the pancreas holds promise for the improvement of approaches to target stressed senescent β-cells in the treatment of diabetes.

细胞衰老是细胞周期停滞的一种程序化状态，涉及复杂的免疫原性分泌组，引发免疫监视和衰老细胞清除。最近的研究表明，胰腺 β 细胞亚群在糖尿病的情况下会衰老。然而，尚不清楚这些细胞是否通常受到免疫监视。在这篇观点文章中，我们提出了这样的假设：对经历衰老应激反应的 β 细胞的免疫监视通常会限制它们在衰老过程中的积累，并且这些机制的崩溃是糖尿病中衰老 β 细胞积累的驱动因素。胰腺免疫监视机制的阐明和治疗激活有望改善糖尿病治疗中针对应激性衰老β细胞的方法。