Senescence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: relationship between senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) mRNA expression level and clinicopathological features

Abstract

Background Cellular senescence is a state characterized by cell-cycle arrest and apoptotic resistance. Senescence in cancer may be induced by oncogenes or therapy. While cellular senescence might play an important role in protection against cancer development, elevated and uncontrolled senescent cells accumulation may promote carcinogenesis by secreting a collection of pro-inflammatory factors, collectively termed the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Material and methods We determined the gene expression at mRNA level of selected cellular senescence markers (p16 and LMNB1) and SASP factors (IL-6, IL-1b, CXCL-1 and TNF-α) in 72 cancerous tissues and 64 normal tissues obtained from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and correlated this data with patients’ clinical follow-up. Results Our results indicate higher levels of selected SASP factors in cancerous compared to normal tissues. We presented the relationship between SASP factors expression at the transcript level and the progression of the disease. Moreover, we proposed CXCL1 as a candidate biomarker differentiating normal tissues from cancerous ones and IL1b expression as a molecular factor related to increased TNM stage. Conclusion Our primary study indicates that SASP expression may be associated with some clinicopathological features. However, a more detailed study is needed to present specific role of senescence-related mechanism and SASPs especially in tumor therapy response and in relation to the patient’s immune system condition.

Exploring the emerging bidirectional association between inflamm‐aging and cellular senescence in organismal aging and disease

“…119 Moreover, prevalence of SASP factors such as CXCL1 was identified as a clinicopathological feature in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma as compared to normal tissue. 120 Considering that cellular senescence and SASP are strongly associated with inflamm-aging and disease pathogenesis, limited yet emerging studies indicate that suppression of SASP or delaying cellular senescence might be sufficient to curb inflamm-aging and improve inflammatory homeostasis with age (Figure 3). We recently observed that long-term administration of major green tea catechin, i.e., epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in mice suppressed cellular senescence and SASP in animal tissues and also alleviated systemic markers of inflamm-aging, ultimately resulting in enhanced lifespan and healthspan.…”