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Updated: Feb 4, 2026

A Sensitive Method to Quantify Senescent Cancer Cells
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A Sensitive Method to Quantify Senescent Cancer Cells

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The Senescence-Stemness Alliance - A Cancer-Hijacked Regeneration Principle

Maja Milanovic1, Yong Yu2, Clemens A Schmitt3

  • 1Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health; Medical Department of Hematology, Oncology and Tumor Immunology, and Molekulares Krebsforschungszentrum (MKFZ), Virchow Campus, 13353 Berlin, Germany.

Trends in Cell Biology
|September 27, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Cellular senescence, a state of cell-cycle arrest, unexpectedly allies with stemness. This alliance aids normal tissue repair but fuels aggressive tumor behavior when co-opted by cancer.

Area of Science:

  • Cellular biology
  • Cancer research
  • Epigenetics

Background:

  • Cellular senescence induces cell-cycle arrest, halting tumor progression.
  • Senescence also plays roles in embryonic development and tissue regeneration.
  • Overlapping gene products suggest a link between senescence and stem cell signaling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the potential reprogramming of senescent cells into a stem-like state.
  • To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the senescence-stemness alliance.
  • To differentiate the implications of this alliance in normal tissue repair versus cancer.

Main Methods:

  • Review of recent discoveries on the senescence-stemness alliance.
  • Elucidation of underlying molecular mechanisms.
  • Comparative analysis of senescence roles in normal and malignant contexts.

Main Results:

  • Evidence suggests an unexpected alliance between cellular senescence and stemness.
  • Epigenetic establishment of senescence may induce a latent stem-like state.
  • This alliance has distinct functional impacts in tissue repair and cancer.

Conclusions:

  • The senescence-stemness alliance is a key biological principle with dual roles.
  • In normal tissues, it aids in replenishing cell populations.
  • In cancer, its usurpation by malignant cells drives aggressive tumor behavior.
Keywords:
cancercellular senescenceepigenetic reprogrammingmouse modelsreversalstemness

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