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Escape from senescence boosts tumour growth

Some chemotherapies block cancer growth by driving tumour cells into a state of cell-division arrest termed senescence. It emerges that such cells have a boosted capacity to drive tumour growth if they exit senescence.
  1. Jan Paul Medema

    1. Jan Paul Medema is in the Laboratory for Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Academic Medical Center, 1105AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and at the Oncode Institute, Academic Medical Center.

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If cells encounter certain types of stress, they can enter a state of cell-division arrest termed senescence1, which is usually thought to be irreversible. Senescence protects organisms from potentially dangerous cellular proliferation, for example by preventing cell division after severe DNA damage. Many anti-cancer therapies cause cancer-cell senescence, which is considered to be a positive outcome of such treatment. However, Milanovic et al.2 reveal on page 96 the unexpected twist that chemotherapy-induced senescence might generate tumour cells that have an enhanced potential to drive tumour growth if they exit senescence.

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Nature 553, 37-38 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-08652-0

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