Biphasic JNK-Erk signaling separates the induction and maintenance of cell senescence after DNA damage induced by topoisomerase II inhibition.

Genotoxic stress in mammalian cells, including those caused by anti-cancer chemotherapy, can induce temporary cell-cycle arrest, DNA damage-induced senescence (DDIS), or apoptotic cell death. Despite obvious clinical importance, it is unclear how the signals emerging from DNA damage are integrated together with other cellular signaling pathways monitoring the cell's environment and/or internal state to control different cell fates. Using single-cell-based signaling measurements combined with tensor partial least square regression (t-PLSR)/principal component analysis (PCA) analysis, we show that JNK and Erk MAPK signaling regulates the initiation of cell senescence through the transcription factor AP-1 at early times after doxorubicin-induced DNA damage and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) at late times after damage. These results identify temporally distinct roles for signaling pathways beyond the classic DNA damage response (DDR) that control the cell senescence decision and modulate the tumor microenvironment and reveal fundamental similarities between signaling pathways responsible for oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) and senescence caused by topoisomerase II inhibition. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.

Spatially-resolved intracellular sensing of hydrogen peroxide in living cells.

Understanding intracellular redox chemistry requires new tools for the site-specific visualization of intracellular oxidation. We have developed a spatially-resolved intracellular sensor of hydrogen peroxide, HyPer-Tau, for time-resolved imaging in live cells. This sensor consists of a hydrogen peroxide-sensing protein tethered to microtubules. We demonstrate the use of the HyPer-Tau sensor for three applications; dose-dependent response of human cells to exogenous hydrogen peroxide, a model immune response of mouse macrophages to stimulation by bacterial toxin, and a spatially-resolved response to localized delivery of hydrogen peroxide. These results demonstrate that HyPer-Tau can be used as an effective tool for tracking changes in spatially localized intracellular hydrogen peroxide and for future applications in redox signaling.