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Cellular senescence: from anti-cancer weapon to anti-aging target

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Abstract

Cellular senescence (CS) is a state of stable cell cycle arrest characterized by the production and secretion of inflammatory molecules. Early studies described oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) as a barrier to tumorigenesis, such that the therapeutic induction of CS might represent a rational anti-cancer strategy. Indeed, the validity of this approach has been borne out by the development and approval of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor palbociclib for the treatment of breast cancer. Apart from tumors, senescent cells have also been shown to accumulate during natural mammalian aging, where they produce detrimental effects on the physiology of surrounding tissues. Thus, pharmacological senescent cell depletion has been proposed as an approach to delay age-related functional decline; this has been formally demonstrated in animal models. In this review article, we describe the current mechanistic understanding of cellular senescence at the molecular level and how it informs the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat cancer and aging.

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Acknowledgements

The authors apologize to colleagues whose work was not cited due to space limitations or our oversight. We thank the current and past members of the Wang laboratory whose studies contributed to the development of concepts presented in this review. This work was supported by the National Institute of Health (R01-CA233205 to X.F.W.).

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  1. Contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Lifeng Yuan

  2. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Lifeng Yuan

  3. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Peter B. Alexander & Xiao-Fan Wang

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  1. Lifeng Yuan
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  2. Peter B. Alexander
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  3. Xiao-Fan Wang
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Correspondence to Xiao-Fan Wang.

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Yuan, L., Alexander, P.B. & Wang, XF. Cellular senescence: from anti-cancer weapon to anti-aging target. Sci. China Life Sci. 63, 332–342 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-019-1629-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-019-1629-6

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