# Fisetin as a treatment for community-acquired pathogen susceptibility during aging, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases

> **NIH VA I01** · MINNEAPOLIS VA  MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

Aging and the chronic diseases associated with aging, such as obesity and neurodegeneration, combined with
military service (trauma, burn pit exposure etc.) make old age Veterans more vulnerable to community-acquired
viral pathogens. This reduces quality of life for Veterans and places a tremendous burden on our healthcare
system. As the Veteran population ages, the burden will only increase. Hence, there is a great need to discover
fundamental mechanisms of aging to develop rational strategies for minimizing the vulnerability of aged Veterans
to viral and bacterial pathogens. The Geroscience hypothesis posits that therapeutically targeting fundamental
mechanisms of aging would yield a larger dividend in terms of improving the health of the aged population, than
would treating individual age-related diseases, and would confer resistance against stressors such as viral
infections. During aging, senescent cells accumulate and can prove toxic to many organismal functions.
Elimination of senescent cells using senolytic drugs have already fostered clinical trials, and in mice, senolytics
improve physical function, tissue health and suppress all-cause mortality. The current pandemic has identified
those who are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes when exposed to a new pathogen, and community
acquired viral infection has emerged as an urgent threat to our aged population, including Veterans. Little is
known about the effects of community-acquired infections in vulnerable populations, including those with obesity
and neurodegeneration.
The goal of the present project is to determine if fisetin (a senolytic compound derived from fruits and vegetables)
and other senolytics such as dasatinib and quercetin, can reduce morbidity and mortality in mice with obesity
and mice with neurodegeneration, that are exposed to normal microbial experience (NME), as a model of
community acquired viral infection. We will also use the knowledge and resources we have to study the role of
cellular senescence in driving adverse outcomes in aged, obese and Parkinson's mouse models acutely exposed
to NME. Preliminary data indicate that mice with a substantial senescent cell burden respond much worse to
inflammatory challenges than mice without senescent cells. Furthermore, exposure to normal pathogens carried
by wild or pet store mice is sufficient to kill old experimental mice housed in specified pathogen-free conditions,
but it does not kill young mice. Here, we propose to use this experimental paradigm to determine if senolytics,
drugs that specifically kill senescent cells, suppress mortality in NME exposed aged obese mice, and in a mouse
model of Parkinson's disease. The immediate goal is to generate sufficient preclinical data to support clinical
trials using nutraceuticals with senolytic activity to prevent adverse outcomes in Veterans at high risk of infection
or grave illness after infection.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10804648
- **Project number:** 5I01RX003901-03
- **Recipient organization:** MINNEAPOLIS VA  MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** CATHERINE M KOTZ
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-04-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10804648

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10804648, Fisetin as a treatment for community-acquired pathogen susceptibility during aging, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases (5I01RX003901-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10804648. Licensed CC0.

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