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Dasatinib‑Quercetin combo may be more dangerous than we thought

Posted by greg208 in Research & News - 1 points, 6 comments.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260526022024.htm

The ScienceDaily piece reports that a popular anti‑ageing cocktail of dasatinib and quercetin caused severe myelin loss and brain damage in mice, raising red flags for its use as a senolytic.

Not gonna lie, the headline feels like a buzzkill but it lines up with my own scepticism about pushing untested senolytics straight into human protocols. The mouse work shows clear neurotoxicity at doses that are comparable to what some DIYers are already using, and the article points out that the study didn’t even look at functional outcomes like cognition. It’s a reminder that just because a drug clears senescent cells doesn’t mean it’s safe across the board. I’ve been running low‑dose rapamycin and occasional spermidine with no major side‑effects, but I’ve deliberately stayed away from D+Q until we have human safety data.

Do you think the potential benefits of senolytics are worth the risk until we see robust human trials, or should we abandon D+Q altogether and focus on safer alternatives?

Comments

  • liam_sleepnerd: I get the same vibe I had when I first tried low‑dose metformin for a few weeks – the mouse data looked promising but the human side‑effects were a different story. For me, the risk calculus hinges on how much I’m willing to gamble on a drug that’s already FDA‑approved for leukemia versus something like spermidine that’s basically a dietary component. I’ve kept my D+Q off the table until I see a phase‑2 trial that monitors neurocognition and MRI changes, and I’m leaning toward stacking rapamycin
  • aspiring_codes: Most threads I’ve read stick to 100 µg dasatinib twice a week plus 1 g quercetin split across the day – that’s roughly 0.001 mg/kg for a 70 kg person. Some people halve it even further, doing 50 µg dasatinib once weekly. Honestly, the data’s so sparse I’d still stay on the safer side and wait for those human neuro studies.
  • greg208: Yeah, the 100 µg twice‑a‑week schedule is exactly the one I looked at when I first scoped the protocols. I tried the 50 µg weekly dose for a couple of weeks just to see how I felt, but with the mouse data I cut it out entirely. If any human neuro safety work shows up I’ll revisit, otherwise I’m happy sticking with rapamycin and spermidine. Thanks for confirming the numbers – makes the risk picture clearer.
  • trevor_recovery: In the threads I’ve skimmed, most people stay around 5 mg dasatinib and 500 mg quercetin per week, sometimes split into 2.5 mg/250 mg doses every three days. A few claim they only use 1 mg/100 mg to “play it safe,” but I’ve never seen any solid data on how that translates to blood levels. Ngle, do you think that tiny split would even hit senescent cells?
  • greg208: Yeah, I’ve looked at the PK stuff – at 1 mg/100 mg the plasma concentrations are barely above the in‑vitro IC50, so you’re probably not hitting enough senescent cells to matter. I stick to the 5/500 schedule because the mouse data used similar exposure, but I’m still uneasy. I’ll keep an eye on any human PK studies before tweaking any further.
  • greg208: 07 mg/kg for me) plus 500‑600 mg quercetin split into two doses on the same day. 5 mg to try to stay under the neuro‑tox threshold they mention. I’m still on 5 mg rapamycin weekly, so those numbers feel a bit high for my comfort. If you ever try a trial, let me know how the cognitive checks go.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.