But joints secrete a still unidentified protective factor that keeps the cells with the mutation alive, so only mutated
cells near joints survive to grow into tumors.
«Osteoarthritis has previously been associated with the accumulation of senescent
cells in or
near the
joints, however, this is the first time there has been evidence of a causal link,» says James Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging.