Modulation of therapy-induced senescence by reactive lipid aldehydes

Current understanding points to unrepairable chromosomal damage as the critical determinant of accelerated senescence in cancer cells treated with radiation or chemotherapy. Nonetheless, the potent senescence inducer etoposide not only targets topoisomerase II to induce DNA damage but also produces abundant free radicals, increasing cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Toward examining roles for DNA damage and oxidative stress in therapy-induced senescence, we developed a quantitative flow cytometric senescence assay and screened 36 redox-active agents as enhancers of an otherwise ineffective dose of radiation. While senescence failed to correlate with total ROS, the radiation enhancers, etoposide and the other effective topoisomerase inhibitors each produced high levels of lipid peroxidation. The reactive aldehyde 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, a lipid peroxidation end product, was sufficient to induce senescence in irradiated cells. In turn, sequestering aldehydes with hydralazine blocked effects of etoposide and other senescence inducers. These results suggest that lipid peroxidation potentiates DNA damage from radiation and chemotherapy to drive therapy-induced senescence.