The researchers suspected that these cells were being made senescent by something produced by gut bacteria.

研究员怀疑，细胞出现老化是由肠道细菌产生某些物质所致。

The story starts with an observation, made a few years ago, that senescent cells often produce a molecule called P16INK4A.

衰老型细胞能够产生一种被称作是P16INK4A 分子。

This treatment lowered the number of senescent and cancerous cells, suggesting the microbes were indeed to blame for promoting cancer.

此时，他们怀疑得到证实。这种喂养方法减少老化和癌化细胞数量，表明微生物确实是诱发癌症。

And once they become too short, the cell dies or becomes one of those free-loading senescent cells.

一旦它们变得太短，细胞就会死亡或成为那些免费加载衰老细胞之一。

And so people in the aging field have actually been trying to target senescent cells to try and remove them from aging tissues, thinking that this'll restore some anti-aging benefits.

此衰老领域们实际上一直在尝试针对衰老细胞，试图将它们从衰老组织中去除，认为这将有利于抗衰老。

By contrast, actually eliminating senescent cells may be a logical extension of the process of shutting them down (they certainly cannot cause cancer if they are dead), and thus may not have adverse consequences.

相反，实际上消灭衰老型细胞可能是一段合乎逻辑延伸，这个进程会将衰老型细胞排在大门之外（那么他们死亡后就当然不能致癌），并且所以就不会有副作用。