Escape from senescence: revisiting cancer therapeutic strategies

Christos P Zampetidis; Argyris Papantonis; Vassilis G Gorgoulis

doi:10.1080/23723556.2022.2030158

Escape from senescence: revisiting cancer therapeutic strategies

Mol Cell Oncol. 2022 Feb 15;9(1):2030158. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2022.2030158. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Christos P Zampetidis^{1

2}, Argyris Papantonis^{3

4}, Vassilis G Gorgoulis^{1

2

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Carcinogenesis Group, Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
² Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³ Translational Epigenetics Group, Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
⁴ Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁵ Division of Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
⁶ Center for New Biotechnologies and Precision Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁷ Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK.

Abstract

Although senescence has been considered as an irreversible cell arrest state, accumulating evidence challenge this view. Consequently, senescence appears as an imperfect barrier to impede cancer progression, constituting a step prior to disease relapse. Therefore, cancer treatment strategies may benefit if revisited to include senolytic agents.

Grants and funding

VG Gorgoulis’ work is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grants agreement no. [722729] (SYNTRAIN); the National Public Investment Program of the Ministry of Development and Investment/General Secretariat for Research and Technology, in the framework of the Flagship Initiative to address SARS-CoV-2 [2020ΣΕ01300001]; the Welfare Foundation for Social & Cultural Sciences (KIKPE), Athens, Greece; H. Pappas [donation]; grants no. [775 (Hippo) and 3782 (PACOREL)] from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI); and NKUA-SARG grant [70/3/8916]. Work in the Papantonis lab is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via [KF05002 funding (Project No. 426671079)].