Abstract

Historically, the senescent state has been associated with, and was named after, the cell-cycle arrest that occurs after cells have undergone an intrinsically defined number of divisions in vitro. More recently, however, it has been shown that extrinsic factors, including those encountered in normal tissue-culture environments, can prematurely induce an indistinguishable senescent phenotype. In this review, we discuss the pathways of cell senescence, the mechanisms involved and the role that these pathways have in regulating the initiation and progression of cancer.

Author affiliations

1. MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology and the Department of Biochemistry, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Correspondence to: Alison C. Lloyd¹ Email: alison.lloyd@ucl.ac.uk