A pro longevity role for cellular senescence.

Amany Attaallah, Monia Lenzi, Silvia Marchionni, Giacomo Bincoletto, Veronica Cocchi, Eleonora Croco, Patrizia Hrelia, Silvana Hrelia, Christian Sell, Antonello Lorenzini

GeroScience 2020 Jun

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Cellular senescence is a fundamental process that may play positive or detrimental roles for the organism. It is involved in tissue development and in tumor prevention although during aging is becoming a detrimental process contributing to the decline of tissue functions. In previous investigations, we have uncovered a better capacity to detect DNA damage in cells from long-lived mammals. Here, we report that cultured cells derived from long-lived species have a higher propensity to undergo senescence when challenged with DNA damage than cells derived from short-lived species. Using a panel of cells derived from six mammals, which range in lifespan from 3-4 years up to 120 years, we examined cell cycle response, induction of apoptosis and of cellular senescence. All species exhibited a cell cycle arrest while induction of apoptosis was variable. However, a significant positive correlation was found between the relative percent of cells, within a population which entered senescence following damage, and the lifespan of the species. We suggest that cellular senescence may have a positive role during development allowing it to contribute to the evolution of longevity.

Citation

Amany Attaallah, Monia Lenzi, Silvia Marchionni, Giacomo Bincoletto, Veronica Cocchi, Eleonora Croco, Patrizia Hrelia, Silvana Hrelia, Christian Sell, Antonello Lorenzini. A pro longevity role for cellular senescence. GeroScience. 2020 Jun;42(3):867-879