Cellular senescence as a stress response.
OBJECTIVE
This review discusses cellular senescence, the state in which normal cells do not respond to growth stimuli, and shows characteristic alterations in their cytologic and biochemical properties and their gene expression profiles.


RESULTS
Cellular senescence is elicited by various stresses. It was recently shown that the stress-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 has a pivotal role in inducing cellular senescence. This finding provided biochemical evidence to support the notion that cellular senescence is a kind of stress response.


CONCLUSIONS
Stress responses are typically found in cells and organisms surviving unfavorable environmental conditions. It can be argued that cellular senescence is an adaptive process that maintains the cell's viability by reducing the energy consumed for reproduction (ie, cell division) and differentiation-related activities.
Ishikawa
Fuyuki
F
Department of Gene Mechanisms, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-Cho, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. fishikaw@lif.kyoto-u.ac.jp
D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000502:physiology*; D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases