Transmitting senescence to the cell neighbourhood

Senescence, a cell-autonomous tumour suppressor mechanism, also has pro-tumorigenic effects on neighbouring pre-malignant cells through the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The SASP is now shown to be regulated by inflammasomes and to induce paracrine senescence in healthy cells, indicating that senescence may also represent a non-cell-autonomous tumour suppressor mechanism linked to innate immunity.