Quercetin for Senolytic Activity (Dasatinib + Quercetin)

Senolytic Activity — scientific infographic poster

In 2015, a team led by Yi Zhu, Tamar Tchkonia and James Kirkland at the Mayo Clinic, working with Paul Robbins and Laura Niedernhofer at the Scripps Research Institute, published the paper in Aging Cell that introduced a new class of drugs, senolytics, which selectively kill senescent cells. They found that senescent cells switch on pro-survival networks (including ephrins, PI3Kδ, p21, BCL-xL and plasminogen activator inhibitor-2) that help them resist apoptosis, that dasatinib (a prescription cancer drug, a kinase inhibitor approved for certain leukemias) and the dietary flavonoid quercetin each killed some types of senescent cells, and that the combination reduced senescent-cell burden in mice. Dasatinib plus quercetin (D+Q) has since been tested in small human studies: open-label pilots in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (Justice 2019, 14 patients) and diabetic kidney disease (Hickson 2019, 9 patients), a pilot in mild Alzheimer's disease (Gonzales 2023, 5 patients), and randomized trials in pulmonary fibrosis, postmenopausal bone health and fibrotic fatty-liver disease. This page reports what those papers found, what the dasatinib label says about the drug's risks, and where the evidence stops.


Table of Contents

  1. Senescent Cells — The Zombie Cell Primer
  2. The SASP — Why Senescent Cells Damage Whole Tissues
  3. SCAPs — The Anti-Apoptotic Achilles Heel
  4. The Zhu 2015 Aging Cell Paper
  5. The Dasatinib + Quercetin (D+Q) Combination
  6. Hickson 2019 — Senescent Cells Measured in Diabetic Kidney Disease
  7. Justice 2019 — First-in-Human Pilot in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
  8. Randomized and Later Trials, 2023–2026
  9. D+Q and Fisetin — What Has Been Compared
  10. Intermittent Dosing in the Trials
  11. What the Human Evidence Shows
  12. Dasatinib Label Warnings, Interactions, and Trial Side Effects
  13. Key Research Papers
  14. Connections
  15. Featured Videos

Senescent Cells — The Zombie Cell Primer

Cellular senescence is a cellular response to stress — DNA damage, telomere shortening, oncogene activation, oxidative stress, or proteotoxic stress — in which a cell stops dividing essentially permanently while remaining metabolically active and resistant to apoptosis. Senescent cells are commonly identified by markers such as the cell-cycle inhibitors p16-INK4a and p21-CIP1, senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity, and a distinctive secretory profile (the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, or SASP, discussed in the next section).

Senescence is not simply harmful. It suppresses cancer by halting the division of damaged cells, and reviews describe further roles in development and tissue repair (van Deursen 2014). Childs and colleagues (2015) point out that these beneficial functions mean that indiscriminately targeting senescent cells, or their secretions, may have negative consequences.

Senescent cells accumulate in various tissues with ageing and at sites of disease in many chronic conditions (Kirkland and Tchkonia 2017). In mice, transplanting relatively small numbers of senescent cells into young animals was enough to cause persistent physical dysfunction and to spread senescence to the host's own tissues (Xu 2018).

Whether senescent cells actually drive age-related decline became testable in 2011, when Darren Baker, Jan van Deursen and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic published a Nature paper using a transgenic mouse (INK-ATTAC) in which p16-INK4a-positive senescent cells could be eliminated on demand with a drug. In progeroid BubR1 mice, life-long removal of these cells delayed age-related pathology in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and the eye, and late-life clearance slowed the progression of disorders already under way. The authors concluded that cellular senescence is causally implicated in age-related phenotypes in this model. This was a genetic tool in mice, not a drug.

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The SASP — Why Senescent Cells Damage Whole Tissues

Senescent cells stop dividing but stay metabolically active, and they secrete a mixture of inflammatory and tissue-remodelling factors — the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Coppé and colleagues (2008) measured the factors secreted by human cells made senescent by DNA damage and found myriad factors associated with inflammation and malignancy; in cultured pre-malignant epithelial cells, the SASP's effects depended largely on interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8.

Reviews attribute several downstream effects to the SASP:

  1. Inflammation — Kirkland and Tchkonia (2017) list senescence-related inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, ageing phenotypes, chronic diseases, geriatric syndromes and loss of resilience among the conditions the SASP can contribute to. Tchkonia and colleagues (2013) describe senescence as a source of chronic inflammation through the SASP.
  2. Spread to neighbouring cells — in the Xu 2018 mouse transplant experiments, introduced senescent cells spread senescence to the host's tissues.
  3. Stem cell dysfunction — listed by Kirkland and Tchkonia (2017) among the SASP's possible contributions.

The SASP also explains the dosing idea behind senolytics. Kirkland and Tchkonia (2020) write that because senescent cells take weeks to reaccumulate, senolytics can be given intermittently — a “hit-and-run” approach — rather than continuously.

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SCAPs — The Anti-Apoptotic Achilles Heel

Senescent cells carry damage that would ordinarily trigger apoptosis. Kirkland and Tchkonia (2020) describe the most harmful senescent cells as resistant to apoptosis because they up-regulate anti-apoptotic pathways — the “senescent-cell anti-apoptotic pathways,” or SCAPs — which defend them against their own inflammatory SASP. Senolytics transiently disable these pathways.

Zhu and colleagues (2015) found increased expression of pro-survival networks in senescent cells by transcript analysis. Silencing key nodes of this network with siRNA killed senescent cells but not proliferating or quiescent, differentiated cells. The nodes they named were:

Drugs targeting the same factors selectively killed senescent cells, and different senescent cell types responded to different drugs. In the Zhu paper, dasatinib eliminated senescent human fat-cell progenitors, quercetin was more effective against senescent human endothelial cells and mouse bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and the combination was effective in eliminating senescent mouse embryonic fibroblasts. This difference between cell types underlies the use of the two drugs together.

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The Zhu 2015 Aging Cell Paper

The Zhu, Tchkonia, Pirtskhalava, et al. 2015 paper in Aging Cell introduced the term senolytics. Its approach, as the abstract describes it:

  1. Compare transcripts of senescent and non-senescent cells to find up-regulated pro-survival networks.
  2. Silence key nodes of those networks with siRNA and check which knockdowns selectively killed senescent cells.
  3. Test drugs that act on the same factors for selective killing of senescent versus non-senescent cells.
  4. Test the most promising combination, dasatinib plus quercetin, in chronologically aged, radiation-exposed, and progeroid Ercc1-deficient mice.

In the mice, D+Q reduced senescent-cell burden. The abstract reports:

A follow-up mouse study (Xu 2018, Nature Medicine) found that intermittent oral D+Q given to naturally aged mice and to young mice transplanted with senescent cells alleviated physical dysfunction, and in aged mice it increased post-treatment survival by 36% while reducing the mortality hazard to 65%. In explants of human adipose tissue, D+Q decreased the number of naturally occurring senescent cells and their secretion of frailty-related inflammatory cytokines. These are animal and tissue-explant results, not results in living people.

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The Dasatinib + Quercetin (D+Q) Combination

Dasatinib is a prescription kinase inhibitor. Its FDA label lists it for Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, at a starting dose of 100 mg once daily for chronic-phase CML in adults and 140 mg once daily for advanced phases, taken continuously. Quercetin is a flavonoid found in foods such as onions and apples and sold as a supplement.

The human senolytic studies on this page gave dasatinib 100 mg together with quercetin 1000 mg or 1250 mg on two or three consecutive days, repeated on a schedule that differed by trial (see Intermittent Dosing in the Trials). Zhu and colleagues chose the pair because the two drugs acted on different senescent cell types, as described above; quercetin's role in the combination comes from its activity against senescent endothelial cells and mouse bone-marrow stem cells in that work.

The short courses in these studies are a far smaller exposure than continuous cancer treatment, but the dasatinib label's warnings come from the drug itself, and the trials recorded side effects of their own; both are listed in the label warnings section. The combination has been studied in clinical trials, not approved for any senolytic or anti-ageing use.

Fisetin, a flavonoid related to quercetin, has been studied as a single-agent senolytic in mice; see the D+Q and fisetin section below and the Fisetin Senolytic Activity page.

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Hickson 2019 — Senescent Cells Measured in Diabetic Kidney Disease

Hickson and colleagues (2019, EBioMedicine) ran an open-label phase 1 pilot study with no control group. Nine people with diabetic kidney disease (mean age 68.7 years; 2 women) took oral dasatinib 100 mg and quercetin 1000 mg for 3 days. Adipose tissue, skin biopsies and blood were collected before treatment and 11 days after it ended.

The study's own abstract calls the Justice 2019 IPF study the first clinical trial of senolytics; Hickson's report was the first peer-reviewed study to show directly that a senolytic decreased senescent cells in humans.

Results reported in the abstract:

The abstract does not report clinical outcomes such as kidney function, and with nine participants and no comparison group it cannot separate the drug's effect from other changes over the same 11 days.

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Justice 2019 — First-in-Human Pilot in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, fatal lung disease that the trial authors describe as associated with cellular senescence. In bleomycin-treated mice, a model of lung fibrosis, D+Q had alleviated IPF-related dysfunction.

Justice, Nambiar, Tchkonia, Kirkland and colleagues (2019, EBioMedicine) ran a two-centre, open-label study with no control group. Fourteen people with stable IPF took dasatinib 100 mg/day and quercetin 1250 mg/day, three days a week for three weeks. The primary endpoints were feasibility — retention and completion of planned clinical assessments; safety and changes in function and reported health were secondary.

Results reported in the abstract:

The authors called the study initial evidence that warranted larger randomized controlled trials. Without a placebo group, the function changes could reflect factors other than the drugs; the randomized follow-up is described in the next section.

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Randomized and Later Trials, 2023–2026

A table of the published human studies of dasatinib plus quercetin cited on this page, listing each study’s condition, design, number of participants and main finding, with randomized studies marked in the key colour and studies without a comparison group marked grey. HUMAN STUDIES OF DASATINIB + QUERCETIN design, size and main reported finding · from each paper’s abstract STUDYDESIGNPEOPLEMAIN FINDING Justice 2019 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis open-label, no control 14 feasible; walk, gait and chair-stand improved; lung function unchanged Hickson 2019 diabetic kidney disease open-label, no control 9 fewer senescent cells in fat and skin 11 days after a 3-day course Nambiar 2023 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis randomized vs placebo 12 feasible; function did not appear to differ from placebo Gonzales 2023 mild Alzheimer’s disease open-label, no control 5 dasatinib reached spinal fluid, quercetin not detected; cognition unchanged Farr 2024 postmenopausal bone randomized vs control 60 primary bone-resorption marker: no difference between groups Millar 2025 at risk of Alzheimer’s disease single-arm, no control 12 MoCA change not statistically significant Koning 2026 fibrotic MASH (liver) randomized vs placebo 31 fibrosis improved in 47% vs 7%; more adverse events on D+Q randomized, with a comparison group no comparison group: changes cannot be separated from chance or time

The human D+Q studies cited on this page, by design and size. Figures are from each paper's abstract.

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D+Q and Fisetin — What Has Been Compared

Fisetin is a flavonoid related to quercetin. Yousefzadeh and colleagues (2018, EBioMedicine), working with the Mayo Clinic group, screened 10 flavonoids against senescent mouse and human fibroblasts and found fisetin the most potent senolytic of those tested. In progeroid and old mice, acute or intermittent fisetin reduced senescence markers in multiple tissues, and given to wild-type mice late in life it extended median and maximum lifespan. In human adipose tissue explants it reduced senescence in a subset of cells. That paper's background describes D+Q as the group's earlier senolytic and states that the goal was to find flavonoids with more potent senolytic activity.

A later lifespan study in genetically heterogeneous mice (Harrison 2024, GeroScience) found that fisetin did not significantly increase lifespan in either sex at the dose and schedule it used. Mouse results for fisetin therefore differ between studies.

No head-to-head human comparison of fisetin and D+Q appears among the papers on this page. The human trials described here all used D+Q, and none of the cited papers reports human senolytic outcomes for fisetin. The differences that can be stated are factual ones: dasatinib is a prescription cancer drug with the label warnings listed below, while fisetin is a dietary flavonoid. Fisetin is covered in detail on the Fisetin Senolytic Activity page.

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Intermittent Dosing in the Trials

Kirkland and Tchkonia (2020) explain the intermittent schedules: senescent cells take weeks to reaccumulate, so senolytics can be given in short pulses — a “hit-and-run” approach. Hickson and colleagues (2019) note that dasatinib and quercetin have elimination half-lives under 11 hours, yet their 3-day course was followed by lower senescent-cell counts 11 days later. On quercetin's reach, the Gonzales 2023 study detected quercetin in blood but not in cerebrospinal fluid.

Regimens the trials report:

These are research regimens chosen by trial teams. None of the studies was designed to find the best dose, frequency or duration for any clinical outcome.

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What the Human Evidence Shows

The senolytic field has consistent mouse data, a clear cellular rationale, and a small number of human studies, most of them uncontrolled pilots with 5 to 14 participants.

What the published human studies report:

  1. A 3-day D+Q course was followed by fewer senescent cells in adipose tissue and skin in 9 people with diabetic kidney disease (Hickson 2019, no control group).
  2. Physical-function measures improved in the open-label IPF pilot (Justice 2019), but in the placebo-controlled IPF pilot function did not appear to differ between groups (Nambiar 2023, not powered for efficacy).
  3. The phase 2 bone trial in 60 postmenopausal women did not meet its primary endpoint (Farr 2024).
  4. The phase 2 trial in 31 people with fibrotic MASH met its primary liver-biopsy endpoint, with more adverse events on D+Q than placebo (Koning 2026).
  5. Circulating SASP factors fell in Hickson 2019; in Justice 2019 the effects on SASP factors were inconclusive.

What these studies do not show:

In their 2020 review, Kirkland and Tchkonia — who led the original D+Q work — wrote that “until such studies are done, it is too early for senolytics to be used outside of clinical trials.” Decisions about prescription medicines belong with a clinician.

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Dasatinib Label Warnings, Interactions, and Trial Side Effects

The warnings below come from the FDA prescribing information for dasatinib tablets (DailyMed: dasatinib labels), which is based on continuous daily treatment of leukemia, not short senolytic courses.

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Key Research Papers

  1. Zhu Y, Tchkonia T, Pirtskhalava T, et al. (2015). The Achilles' heel of senescent cells: from transcriptome to senolytic drugs. Aging Cell 14(4):644-58. — PubMed PMID: 25754370
  2. Hickson LJ, Langhi Prata LGP, Bobart SA, et al. (2019). Senolytics decrease senescent cells in humans: preliminary report from a clinical trial of Dasatinib plus Quercetin in individuals with diabetic kidney disease. EBioMedicine 47:446-456. — PubMed PMID: 31542391
  3. Justice JN, Nambiar AM, Tchkonia T, et al. (2019). Senolytics in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: results from a first-in-human, open-label, pilot study. EBioMedicine 40:554-563. — PubMed PMID: 30616998
  4. Baker DJ, Wijshake T, Tchkonia T, et al. (2011). Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders. Nature 479(7372):232-6. — PubMed PMID: 22048312
  5. Yousefzadeh MJ, Zhu Y, McGowan SJ, et al. (2018). Fisetin is a senotherapeutic that extends health and lifespan. EBioMedicine 36:18-28. — PubMed PMID: 30279143
  6. Xu M, Pirtskhalava T, Farr JN, et al. (2018). Senolytics improve physical function and increase lifespan in old age. Nature Medicine 24(8):1246-1256. — PubMed PMID: 29988130
  7. Kirkland JL, Tchkonia T (2020). Senolytic drugs: from discovery to translation. Journal of Internal Medicine 288(5):518-536. — PubMed PMID: 32686219
  8. Kirkland JL, Tchkonia T (2017). Cellular senescence: a translational perspective. EBioMedicine 21:21-28. — PubMed PMID: 28416161
  9. Childs BG, Durik M, Baker DJ, van Deursen JM (2015). Cellular senescence in aging and age-related disease: from mechanisms to therapy. Nature Medicine 21(12):1424-35. — PubMed PMID: 26646499
  10. Coppé JP, Patil CK, Rodier F, et al. (2008). Senescence-associated secretory phenotypes reveal cell-nonautonomous functions of oncogenic RAS and the p53 tumor suppressor. PLoS Biology 6(12):2853-68. — PubMed PMID: 19053174
  11. van Deursen JM (2014). The role of senescent cells in ageing. Nature 509(7501):439-46. — PubMed PMID: 24848057
  12. Tchkonia T, Zhu Y, van Deursen J, Campisi J, Kirkland JL (2013). Cellular senescence and the senescent secretory phenotype: therapeutic opportunities. Journal of Clinical Investigation 123(3):966-72. — PubMed PMID: 23454759
  13. Nambiar A, Kellogg D 3rd, Justice J, et al. (2023). Senolytics dasatinib and quercetin in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: results of a phase I, single-blind, single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial on feasibility and tolerability. EBioMedicine 90:104481. — PubMed PMID: 36857968
  14. Gonzales MM, Garbarino VR, Kautz TF, et al. (2023). Senolytic therapy in mild Alzheimer's disease: a phase 1 feasibility trial. Nature Medicine 29(10):2481-2488. — PubMed PMID: 37679434
  15. Farr JN, Atkinson EJ, Achenbach SJ, et al. (2024). Effects of intermittent senolytic therapy on bone metabolism in postmenopausal women: a phase 2 randomized controlled trial. Nature Medicine 30(9):2605-2612. — PubMed PMID: 38956196
  16. Millar CL, Iloputaife I, Baldyga K, et al. (2025). A pilot study of senolytics to improve cognition and mobility in older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease. EBioMedicine 113:105612. — PubMed PMID: 40010154
  17. Koning M, Kovynev A, Fondevila MF, et al. (2026). Senolytics dasatinib and quercetin in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: a proof-of-principle randomized, controlled trial. Nature Metabolism. — PubMed PMID: 42823536
  18. Harrison DE, Strong R, Reifsnyder P, et al. (2024). Astaxanthin and meclizine extend lifespan in UM-HET3 male mice; fisetin, SG1002 (hydrogen sulfide donor), dimethyl fumarate, mycophenolic acid, and 4-phenylbutyrate do not significantly affect lifespan in either sex at the doses and schedules used. GeroScience 46(1):795-816. — PubMed PMID: 38041783

PubMed Topic Searches

  1. PubMed: D+Q senolytic combination
  2. PubMed: Senolytic clinical trials in humans
  3. PubMed: SCAPs and BCL-xL inhibition
  4. PubMed: SASP literature
  5. PubMed: Senescence and lifespan intervention

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Connections

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