Role of Senescence in Tumorigenesis and Anticancer Therapy

Although the role of senescence in many physiological and pathological processes is becoming more identifiable, many aspects of senescence are still enigmatic. A special attention is paid to the role of this phenomenon in tumor development and therapy. This review mainly deals with a large spectrum of oncological issues, beginning with therapy-induced senescence and ending with oncogene-induced senescence. Moreover, the role of senescence in experimental approaches, such as primary cancer cell culture or reprogramming into stem cells, is also beginning to receive further consideration. Additional focus is made on senescence resulting from mitotic catastrophe processes triggered by events occurring during mitosis and jeopardizing chromosomal stability. It has to be also realized that based on recent findings, the basics of senescent cell property interpretation, such as irreversibility of proliferation blockade, can be undermined. It shows that the definition of senescence probably requires updating. Finally, the role of senescence is lately more understandable in the immune system, especially since senescence can diminish the effectiveness of the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge regarding all these issues.