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Review
. 2020 Oct;53(10):e12894.
doi: 10.1111/cpr.12894. Epub 2020 Sep 3.

Cellular senescence and cancer: Focusing on traditional Chinese medicine and natural products

Affiliations
Review

Cellular senescence and cancer: Focusing on traditional Chinese medicine and natural products

Yiman Liu et al. Cell Prolif. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Cancer is the principal cause of death and a dominant public health problem which seriously threatening human life. Among various ways to treat cancer, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and natural products have outstanding anti-cancer effects with their unique advantages of high efficiency and minimal side effects. Cell senescence is a physiological process of cell growth stagnation triggered by stress, which is an important line of defence against tumour development. In recent years, active ingredients of TCM and natural products, as an interesting research hotspot, can induce cell senescence to suppress the occurrence and development of tumours, by inhibiting telomerase activity, triggering DNA damage, inducing SASP, and activating or inactivating oncogenes. In this paper, the recent research progress on the main compounds derived from TCM and natural products that play anti-cancer roles by inducing cell senescence is systematically reviewed, aiming to provide a reference for the clinical treatment of pro-senescent cancer.

Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine; active ingredients; cell senescence; tumour.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflicts of interest are disclosed.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The main biological phenomenon and related proteins that regulate cell senescence
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The main mechanism of telomerase activity regulates cell senescence
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The relationship of DNA damage and cell senescence
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The main mechanism of oncogene‐induced senescence
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The main mechanism of SASP and cell senescence
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The mechanism of active components promoting the senescence resistance to cancer

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MeSH terms