Premature senescence worsens the prognosis of adult chronic hepatobiliary diseases and some evidence suggests that this phenomenon also occurs in biliary atresia, which is the leading cause of pediatric liver transplantation. Since alternatives to liver transplantation are still lacking, the aim of our work was to investigate premature senescence in pediatric biliary cirrhosis and to assess senotherapies in vivo. We demonstrated that liver senescence is already present from early stage in biliary atresia and continues to progress until liver transplantation. Alagille syndrome livers displayed premature senescence as well. Human allogenic liver-derived progenitor cells decreased early senescence and improved liver disease in the bile duct ligation rat model of biliary cirrhosis. Although senotherapies are promising therapeutic tools to develop in pediatric biliary cirrhosis, such therapies will have to be further developed and improved before reaching clinical practice. (MED - Sciences médicales) -- UCL, 2023