SnapShot: Cellular Senescence Pathways

The signals and pathways activating cellular senescence.

Cellular senescence is a program activated by normal cells in response to various types of stress. These include telomere uncapping, DNA damage, oxidative stress, oncogene activity and others. Senescence can occur following a period of cellular proliferation or in a rapid manner in response to acute stress. Once cells have entered senescence, they cease to divide and undergo a series of dramati...

Evidence for multiple pathways to cellular senescence.

Normal cells in culture generally senesce whereas tumor-derived cells are often, but not without exception, immortal and grow indefinitely. For cells to escape the senescence program, normal genes must be lost or inactivated as shown by somatic cell genetic studies. For example, the introduction of specific chromosomes by microcell-mediated chromosome transfer has been shown to induce senescenc...

DPY30 regulates pathways in cellular senescence through ID protein expression.

Cellular senescence is an intrinsic defense mechanism to various cellular stresses: while still metabolically active, senescent cells stop dividing and enter a proliferation arrest. Here, we identify DPY30, a member of all mammalian histone H3K4 histone methyltransferases (HMTases), as a key regulator of the proliferation potential of human primary cells. Following depletion of DPY30, cells sho...

Cellular senescence mediated by p16INK4A-coupled miRNA pathways

p16 is a key regulator of cellular senescence, yet the drivers of this stable state of proliferative arrest are not well understood. Here, we identify 22 senescence-associated microRNAs (SA-miRNAs) in normal human mammary epithelial cells. We show that SA-miRNAs-26b, 181a, 210 and 424 function in concert to directly repress expression of Polycomb group (PcG) proteins CBX7, embryonic ectoderm de...

SnapShot: Extrinsic Apoptosis Pathways