The identification of senescence-specific genes during the induction of senescence in prostate cancer cells.

Classic mechanisms of tumor response to chemotherapy include apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe. Recent studies have suggested that cellular senescence, a terminal proliferation arrest seen in vitro, may be invoked during the exposure of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents. To identify markers associated specifically with the cellular senescence phenotype, we utilized expression data from cDNA microarray experiments identifying transcripts whose expression levels increased as human prostate epithelial cells progressed to senescence.