Precancerous aging monitoring can limit the development of liver cancer

On November 24, nature magazine published the latest research results of German researchers online, revealing that the monitoring of aging before hepatocellular carcinoma can limit the development of liver cancer. Oncogene-induced senescence has been found to act as an intrinsic tumor suppressor mechanism. Lars Zender and colleagues proposed the concept of "ageing monitoring": they found that pre-malignant aging liver cells can be cleared by an immune response guided by tumor antigens. This process requires the involvement of CD4+ T cells and inhibits the development of liver cancer in a mouse model. The authors also provide evidence that senescent hepatocytes accumulate in the liver of patients whose immune system is suppressed, suggesting that aging surveillance may also be feasible for humans. The strategy designed to use antigen-specific immune surveillance of pre-malignant senescent cells may have potential in cancer prevention and treatment, and this type of antigen-specific immune response may also be useful in vaccine production.