Senescence is a terminal differentiation program that halts the growth of damaged cells and must be circumvented for cancer to arise. Here we describe a panel of genetic screens to identify genes required for replicative senescence. We uncover a role in senescence for the potent tumor suppressor and ATM substrate USP28. USP28 controls activation of both the TP53 branch and the GATA4/NFkB branch that controls the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). These results suggest a role for ubiquitination in senescence and imply a common node downstream from ATM that links the TP53 and GATA4 branches of the senescence response.
Keywords: GATA4; USP28; senescence.
© 2017 Mazzucco et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.