zombie cell

English

Noun

zombie cell (plural zombie cells)

1. (cytology, informal) A senescent cell, which avoids programmed cell death (apoptosis) and may damage other cells (including causing them to become senescent) via secretions associated with senescence-associated secretory phenotype.
   • 2019, David A. Sinclair, Matthew D. LaPlante, Lifespan, Simon & Schuster, page 150:

     Senescent cells are often referred to as "zombie cells," because even though they should be dead, they refuse to die. In the petri dish and in frozen, thinly sliced tissue sections, we can stain zombie cells blue because they make a rare enzyme called beta-galactosidase, and when we do that, they light up clearly.

   • 2020, Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler, The Future Is Faster Than You Think, Simon & Schuster, page 175:

     Known as senolytic therapies, these drugs destroy the inflammation-producing zombie cells believed to be one of the causes of aging.

   • 2022, Louann Brizendine, The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond, Penguin Random House (Harmony Books), unnumbered page,

     Without restful sleep, they^{[astrocytes and microglia]} can't do their job of balancing debris and inflammation, and that can lead to the emergence of zombie cells.

Translations

senescent cell

• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Zombiezelle f
• Italian: please add this translation if you can