What this means
Researchers built a glowing probe that lights up only in certain aged cells. It may help scientists track these cells in living animals, but this is early lab work.
Plain-English summary written by an AI model from the abstract. The original is below.
- Who it was tested in
- Cells in a lab and mice
- Kind of research
- A study
The science
- Original title
- A Dual-Locked β‑Galactosidase/pH Near-Infrared Sensor Enables High-Fidelity Monitoring of Therapy-Induced Senescence.
- Authors
- Ding L, Zhang Y, Wang N et al.
- Journal
- JACS Au
- Published
- Oct 29, 2026
- Study type
- Study
- PMID
- 42953165 ↗
Abstract
Therapy-induced senescence is increasingly recognized as a critical determinant of chemotherapy efficacy, tissue toxicity, and senolytic intervention. However, conventional senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) assays and single β-Gal-responsive probes often suffer from limited specificity because elevated β-Gal activity is not exclusive to senescent cells. Here, we report ECD-Gal, a dual-locked near-infrared fluorescent sensor that integrates β-Gal enzymatic activity with lysosomal pH variation for high-fidelity sensing therapy-induced senescence. ECD-Gal shows weak emission in β-Gal positive cells with an acidic lysosomal microenvironment but is strongly activated in senescent cells where β-Gal accumulation coincides with lysosomal alkalinization. Mechanistic studies using agents that induced lysosomal acidification or lysosomal alkalinization supported that both β-Gal activity and elevated lysosomal pH are required for fluorescence activation. ECD-Gal enabled confocal imaging, flow-cytometric quantification, in vivo visualization of doxorubicin or bleomycin-induced senescence, and its fluorescence readout correlated with SA-β-Gal staining, senescence marker expression, and fibrosis-associated pathological remodeling. This dual-locked sensing strategy provides a robust molecular tool for monitoring therapy-induced senescence and evaluating senolytic interventions in living systems.
Ding L, Zhang Y, Wang N et al. A Dual-Locked β‑Galactosidase/pH Near-Infrared Sensor Enables High-Fidelity Monitoring of Therapy-Induced Senescence. JACS Au. 2026. doi:10.1021/jacsau.6c01028. PMID: 42953165. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42953165/
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