Cited by 162Telomeres, Telomerase, and SenescenceImmune Cell Function and InteractionGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms

Targetable mechanisms driving immunoevasion of persistent senescent cells link chemotherapy-resistant cancer to aging

Open access
Muñoz, Denise P., Yannone, Steven M., Daemen, Anneleen, Sun, Yu, Vakar-Lopez, Funda, Kawahara, Misako, Freund, Adam M., Rodier, Francis +7 more·2019·JCI Insight

Abstract

Cellular senescence is a tumor-suppressive mechanism that can paradoxically contribute to aging pathologies. Despite evidence of immune clearance in mouse models, it is not known how senescent cells (SnCs) persist and accumulate with age or in tumors in individuals. Here, we identify cooperative mechanisms that orchestrate the immunoevasion and persistence of normal and cancer human SnCs through extracellular targeting of natural killer receptor signaling. Damaged SnCs avoided immune recognition through MMP-dependent shedding of NKG2D ligands reinforced via paracrine suppression of NKG2D receptor–mediated immunosurveillance. These coordinated immunoediting processes were evident in residual, drug-resistant tumors from cohorts of more than 700 prostate and breast cancer patients treated with senescence-inducing genotoxic chemotherapies. Unlike in mice, these reversible senescence subversion mechanisms were independent of p53/p16 and exacerbated in oncogenic RAS-induced senescence. Critically, the p16 INK4A tumor suppressor could disengage the senescence growth arrest from the damage-associated immune senescence program, which was manifest in benign nevus lesions, where indolent SnCs accumulated over time and preserved a non-proinflammatory tissue microenvironment maintaining NKG2D-mediated immunosurveillance. Our study shows how subpopulations of SnCs elude immunosurveillance and reveals potential secretome-targeted therapeutic strategies to selectively eliminate — and restore the clearance of — the detrimental SnCs that actively persist after chemotherapy and accumulate at sites of aging pathologies.

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  • Senescence is an important mechanism of efficacy in the treatment of breast cancer with PARP inhibitors and many typical chemotherapy agents used to treat breast cancer, such as epirubicin and cyclophosphamide.

    “Senescence is also an important mechanism of efficacy in the treatment of breast cancer with PARP inhibitors [59] and many typical chemotherapy agents used to treat breast cancer, such as epirubicin and cyclophosphamide [60].”
  • At younger ages, senescent cells are cleared by the host immune system.

    “At younger ages, senescent cells are cleared by the host immune system [63–66]”

    From Reducing Senescent Cell Burden in Aging and Disease (2020) · cites this paper as [63]

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Coppé J-P. Aging and Cancer: Cell Non-Autonomous Effects of Senescent Fibroblasts on Tissue Microenvironment [dissertation]. Berkeley, California, USA: University of California, Berkeley; 2007.

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Authors
Muñoz, D. P., Yannone, S. M., Daemen, A., Sun, Y., Vakar-Lopez, F., Kawahara, M., Freund, A. M., Rodier, F., Wu, J. D., Desprez, P.-Y., Raulet, D. H., Nelson, P. S., van ’t Veer, L. J., Campisi, J., & Coppé, J.-P.
Affiliations
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
  • Fred Hutch Cancer Center (US)
  • Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging (US)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Life Sciences Division, Berkeley, California, USA.
  • University of Washington (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Laboratory Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA.
Corresponding author
Coppé, Jean-Philippe
Venue
JCI Insight
Published
2019-07-25
Volume
4
Issue
14
ISSN
2379-3708 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2952749575
Cited by
162
References
92
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 1
FWCI
13.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • JCI Insight (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (R56AG009909, R37AG009909, P01AG017242)
  • National Cancer Institute (R01CA093678, R01CA204021, R01CA165573, P50CA097186)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI113041)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune Cell Function and Interaction
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Keywords
cellular senescence, senescent cells, immune evasion, NKG2D, natural killer cells, matrix metalloproteinases, immune surveillance, immunoediting, chemoresistance, aging, prostate cancer, breast cancer, Ras-induced senescence, p16INK4a, benign nevi, tumor microenvironment
MeSH terms
Aging, Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Biopsy, Breast, Breast Neoplasms, DNA Damage, Female, Humans, Immunologic Surveillance, Male, Metalloendopeptidases, Prostate, Prostatic Neoplasms, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Cellular Senescence, Drug Resistance, Neoplasm, Tumor Escape, Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16, Gene Expression Profiling, Cell Line, Tumor, Tissue Array Analysis, Mice, NK Cell Lectin-Like Receptor Subfamily K, Tumor Microenvironment, Datasets as Topic

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