Radiation therapy is a highly-effective inducer of cancer cell death. With this being said, radiation has also previously been shown to cause premature senescence in the lung parenchyma. Senescence in cancer cells was previously only thought of as a mechanism capable of suppressing tumor cell proliferation by halting the cell cycle. However, a growing body of evidence shows that senescent cells may play a pro-tumorigenic role in cancer.

In the tumor microenvironment, the accumulation of senescent cells can become tumorigenic due to a lack of normal tissue stem cells and due to the expression of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). SASP expression is when senescent cells secrete high levels of inflammatory cytokines, immune modulators, growth factors, and proteases. In addition to reinforcing senescence, SASP can create a biological environment that is immuno-suppressed and tumor-permissive. Radiation-induced senescence has previously been shown to have negative impacts on cancer patients.

“Cells that have undergone premature senescence due to stress, such as irradiation, are resistant to apoptotic cell death and effectively escape immune surveillance, resulting in their accumulation in tissue over time.”

Recently, researchers from the National Cancer Institute investigated the irradiated lung and the impact of radiation-induced senescent parenchymal cells on tumor growth. They also explored three senotherapeutics, rapamycin, INK-128 and ABT-737, for their potential to mitigate radiation-induced senescence. On February 12, 2022, the team’s priority research paper was published on the cover of Aging (Aging-US) Volume 14, Issue 3, and entitled, “Senescence-associated tumor growth is promoted by 12-Lipoxygenase.”

Full blog - https://www.impactjournals.com/journals/blog/aging/trending-with-impact-radiation-senescence-and-senotherapeutics/

DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203890

Corresponding author - Deborah E. Citrin - [email protected]

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Keywords - aging, senescence, radiation, senolytic, metastasis, Alox12

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Launched in 2009, Aging-US publishes papers of general interest and biological significance in all fields of aging research and age-related diseases, including cancer—and now, with a special focus on COVID-19 vulnerability as an age-dependent syndrome. Topics in Aging-US go beyond traditional gerontology, including, but not limited to, cellular and molecular biology, human age-related diseases, pathology in model organisms, signal transduction pathways (e.g., p53, sirtuins, and PI-3K/AKT/mTOR, among others), and approaches to modulating these signaling pathways.

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