Senescence versus apoptosis in chemotherapy

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Distal recurrences represent the dominant problem with this disease. Adjuvant chemotherapy has an established benefit but the administration of highly effective chemotherapy regimens has proven difficult. In their manuscript, Barbara Jonchere and colleagues used different colon cancer cell lines with the aim to unveil novel mechanisms of resistance to sn38 treatment [1], the active metabolite of irrinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor routinely used in adjuvant therapy. Using a time-limited cell treatment to mimic the therapeutic protocol, they confirmed the consequent DNA damage induction and subsequent cell commitment to a senescence program. In support for the role of mitotic skipping in senescence induction [2], senescen