Somatic cells show a spontaneous decline in growth rate on continuous culture, related not to elapsed time but to an increasing number of population doublings, eventually terminating in a quiescent but viable state, termed replicative senescence. These cells are commonly multinucleated and do not respond to mitogens or apoptotic stimuli. Cells displaying characteristics of senescent cells can also be observed in response to other stimuli such as oncogenic stress, DNA damage or cytotoxic drugs, and have been reported to be found in vivo. Most tumors show unlimited replicative potential leading to the hypothesis that cellular senescence is a natural antitumor program. Given that the ultimate goal of cancer research is to find the complete cure for as many tumour types as possible, the exploring of cellular senescence to drive antitumor therapies may decisively influence the outcome of new drugs.
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