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Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2001, p. 1552-1564, Vol. 21, No. 5
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.5.1552-1564.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Change of the Death Pathway in Senescent Human Fibroblasts in
Response to DNA Damage Is Caused by an Inability To Stabilize
p53
Andrei
Seluanov,*
Vera
Gorbunova,
Ayellet
Falcovitz,
Alex
Sigal,
Michael
Milyavsky,
Irit
Zurer,
Galit
Shohat,
Naomi
Goldfinger, and
Varda
Rotter
Department of Molecular Cell Biology,
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
Received 25 August 2000/Returned for modification 5 October
2000/Accepted 6 December 2000
The cellular function of p53 is complex. It is well known that p53
plays a key role in cellular response to DNA damage. Moreover, p53 was
implicated in cellular senescence, and it was demonstrated that p53
undergoes modification in senescent cells. However, it is not known how
these modifications affect the ability of senescent cells to respond to
DNA damage. To address this question, we studied the responses of
cultured young and old normal diploid human fibroblasts to a variety of
genotoxic stresses. Young fibroblasts were able to undergo
p53-dependent and p53-independent apoptosis. In contrast, senescent
fibroblasts were unable to undergo p53-dependent apoptosis, whereas
p53-independent apoptosis was only slightly reduced. Interestingly, instead of undergoing p53-dependent apoptosis, senescent fibroblasts underwent necrosis. Furthermore, we found that old cells were unable to
stabilize p53 in response to DNA damage. Exogenous expression or
stabilization of p53 with proteasome inhibitors in old fibroblasts restored their ability to undergo apoptosis. Our results suggest that
stabilization of p53 in response to DNA damage is impaired in old
fibroblasts, resulting in induction of necrosis. The role of this
phenomenon in normal aging and anticancer therapy is discussed.
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Huffington
Center on Aging, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 798-3598. Fax: (713) 798-4161. E-mail: Seluanov_Andrei{at}hotmail.com.

Present address: Huffington Center on Aging, Baylor College of
Medicine, Houston, TX
77030.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2001, p. 1552-1564, Vol. 21, No. 5
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.5.1552-1564.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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