Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

In recent years it became clear that cancer treatment do not necessarily trigger simple cancer cell death. For example, if prostate cancer cells simply "died" following treatment, tumors should shrink and disappear in a few days, which is not the case. In reality, cancer cells can initiate multiple different responses to treatment varying from rapid programmed cell death to a viable permanent growth arrest reminiscent of cellular aging in normal cells. We now know that this "senescence" response is broadly triggered following cancer therapy in normal and cancer tissues and that these senescent cells can persist for long periods of time (months). Moreover, senescent cells are very active in their host tissue and actively communicate with resident cells, tumor cells and immune cells. Whether these bioactive cells impact the outcome of cancer treatment and whether they can be manipulated remain unknown. Our general goals are to determine the role of senescent cells during cancer evolution and to optimze the senescence response in cancer treatment to improve the long-term outcome.