Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
Cells. 2020 Jul 21;9(7):1747. doi: 10.3390/cells9071747.
Damage to our genomes triggers cellular senescence characterised by stable cell cycle arrest and a pro-inflammatory secretome that prevents the unrestricted growth of cells with pathological potential. In this way, senescence can be considered a powerful innate defence against cancer and viral infection. However, damage accumulated during ageing increases the number of senescent cells and this contributes to the chronic inflammation and deregulation of the immune function, which increases susceptibility to infectious disease in ageing organisms. Bacterial and viral pathogens are masters of exploiting weak points to establish infection and cause devastating diseases. This review considers the emerging importance of senescence in the host-pathogen interaction: we discuss the pathogen exploitation of ageing cells and senescence as a novel hijack target of bacterial pathogens that deploys senescence-inducing toxins to promote infection. The persistent induction of senescence by pathogens, mediated directly through virulence determinants or indirectly through inflammation and chronic infection, also contributes to age-related pathologies such as cancer. This review highlights the dichotomous role of senescence in infection: an innate defence that is exploited by pathogens to cause disease.
我们的基因组受损会引发细胞衰老，其特征是细胞周期稳定停滞和促炎分泌组，这可以防止具有潜在病理的细胞不受限制地生长。通过这种方式，衰老可以被认为是对抗癌症和病毒感染的强大先天防御。然而，随着年龄的增长，积累的损伤会增加衰老细胞的数量，这会导致慢性炎症和免疫功能失调，从而增加衰老生物对传染病的易感性。细菌和病毒病原体是利用弱点建立感染并导致毁灭性疾病的大师。本综述考虑了衰老在宿主-病原体相互作用中的新出现的重要性：我们讨论了病原体对衰老细胞的利用以及衰老作为细菌病原体的新型劫持靶标，细菌病原体利用衰老诱导毒素来促进感染。病原体通过直接通过毒力决定因素或间接通过炎症和慢性感染持续诱导衰老，也会导致与年龄相关的疾病，如癌症。本综述强调了衰老在感染中的双重作用：衰老作为一种先天防御，被病原体利用来引发疾病。
