Biomaterial Database

Aging, cellular senescence, and cancer. 2013

Judith Campisi

Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California 94945, USA. jcampisi@buckinstitute.org

For most species, aging promotes a host of degenerative pathologies that are characterized by debilitating losses of tissue or cellular function. However, especially among vertebrates, aging also promotes hyperplastic pathologies, the most deadly of which is cancer. In contrast to the loss of function that characterizes degenerating cells and tissues, malignant (cancerous) cells must acquire new (albeit aberrant) functions that allow them to develop into a lethal tumor. This review discusses the idea that, despite seemingly opposite characteristics, the degenerative and hyperplastic pathologies of aging are at least partly linked by a common biological phenomenon: a cellular stress response known as cellular senescence. The senescence response is widely recognized as a potent tumor suppressive mechanism. However, recent evidence strengthens the idea that it also drives both degenerative and hyperplastic pathologies, most likely by promoting chronic inflammation. Thus, the senescence response may be the result of antagonistically pleiotropic gene action.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009369	Neoplasms	New abnormal growth of tissue. Malignant neoplasms show a greater degree of anaplasia and have the properties of invasion and metastasis, compared to benign neoplasms.	Benign Neoplasm,Cancer,Malignant Neoplasm,Tumor,Tumors,Benign Neoplasms,Malignancy,Malignant Neoplasms,Neoplasia,Neoplasm,Neoplasms, Benign,Cancers,Malignancies,Neoplasias,Neoplasm, Benign,Neoplasm, Malignant,Neoplasms, Malignant
D004195	Disease Models, Animal	Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases.	Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D004249	DNA Damage	Injuries to DNA that introduce deviations from its normal, intact structure and which may, if left unrepaired, result in a MUTATION or a block of DNA REPLICATION. These deviations may be caused by physical or chemical agents and occur by natural or unnatural, introduced circumstances. They include the introduction of illegitimate bases during replication or by deamination or other modification of bases; the loss of a base from the DNA backbone leaving an abasic site; single-strand breaks; double strand breaks; and intrastrand (PYRIMIDINE DIMERS) or interstrand crosslinking. Damage can often be repaired (DNA REPAIR). If the damage is extensive, it can induce APOPTOSIS.	DNA Injury,DNA Lesion,DNA Lesions,Genotoxic Stress,Stress, Genotoxic,Injury, DNA,DNA Injuries
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000375	Aging	The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.	Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D013312	Stress, Physiological	The unfavorable effect of environmental factors (stressors) on the physiological functions of an organism. Prolonged unresolved physiological stress can affect HOMEOSTASIS of the organism, and may lead to damaging or pathological conditions.	Biotic Stress,Metabolic Stress,Physiological Stress,Abiotic Stress,Abiotic Stress Reaction,Abiotic Stress Response,Biological Stress,Metabolic Stress Response,Physiological Stress Reaction,Physiological Stress Reactivity,Physiological Stress Response,Abiotic Stress Reactions,Abiotic Stress Responses,Abiotic Stresses,Biological Stresses,Biotic Stresses,Metabolic Stress Responses,Metabolic Stresses,Physiological Stress Reactions,Physiological Stress Responses,Physiological Stresses,Reaction, Abiotic Stress,Reactions, Abiotic Stress,Response, Abiotic Stress,Response, Metabolic Stress,Stress Reaction, Physiological,Stress Response, Metabolic,Stress Response, Physiological,Stress, Abiotic,Stress, Biological,Stress, Biotic,Stress, Metabolic
D016922	Cellular Senescence	Process by which cells irreversibly stop dividing and enter a state of permanent growth arrest without undergoing CELL DEATH. Senescence can be induced by DNA DAMAGE or other cellular stresses, such as OXIDATIVE STRESS.	Aging, Cell,Cell Aging,Cell Senescence,Replicative Senescence,Senescence, Cellular,Senescence, Replicative,Cell Ageing,Cellular Ageing,Cellular Aging,Ageing, Cell,Ageing, Cellular,Aging, Cellular,Senescence, Cell