The aim of the Chair's lectures is to identify and model the cellular mechanisms involved in the response to various anti-cancer agents. Following on from the lectures on anti-hormones, cell differentiation and p53 as a common final pathway, we have decided to close this first lecture cycle with a study of cellular senescence.
A series of works, many of which have been carried out over the last fifteen years, have put senescence back at the center of multiple living processes. Initially regarded as an artifact of cell culture, senescence is now emerging as a central mechanism of cellular response and adaptation to stress in biology. Senescence is linked to cancer in a number of ways: it protects against the onset of the disease, is involved in the therapeutic response, but also in relapses. This year's lecture revisits the sometimes unexpected and often complex relationships between cellular senescence and cancer.