Nota editorial (2025): publicado originalmente en 2020. Se añadió una versión estructurada con fines enciclopédicos. El texto original se conserva íntegro como parte del archivo histórico.
eneros y Envejecimiento, SERGAS Servizo Galego de Saúde
Understanding Cellular Senescence in the Context of Cancer Research
“Cellular senescence is a complex biological phenomenon that affects both aging and cancer. It represents a cell’s response to damage, effectively halting its proliferation as an emergency measure against potential genomic instability.
- What Is Cellular Senescence?: A state where cells stop dividing due to various stressors or damages. Although it’s a defense mechanism, its dysregulation is implicated in aging and cancer progression.
- The Initiative Against Cancer: The Grand Challenges of Cancer: Launched by the National Cancer Institute (USA) to spur advancements, this initiative seeks to prioritize and address key questions regarding cancer biology.
- Senescence as a Double-Edged Sword**: While senescent cells contribute to aging processes like osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s, their ability to secrete inflammatory molecules (SASP) might have tumorigenic potential by influencing the tissue microenvironment.
- Therapeutic Strategies**: Two promising approaches are being explored. The first involves inducing senescence in cancer cells, while actively removing them using selective cell death-inducing agents or compounds called senolytics.
- Clinical Implications and Current Research**: Despite the challenges of identifying reliable markers for senescence to facilitate research in humans, strategies like “one-two therapy” combining inducing cellular senescence with targeted elimination using senolytics show therapeutic potential.
- Funding and Research Support**: Significant efforts are underway across international consortia, supported by grants such as those provided to SERGAS Servizo Galego de Saúde for cancer research related to cellular senescence.
“Understanding and harnessing the power of cellular senescence could lead us closer to developing effective treatments against age-related diseases, including cancer.”