Why is cellular senescence important?
Scientists today have focused on three key aspects of cellular senescence. The first may explain why such a phenomenon would exist. Scientists note that limiting the number of divisions a cell can undergo may serve to suppress tumor formation and cancer. With each normal cell division, the possibility of genetic mutation exists. Some of those mutations can make cells cancerous. A finite life span for cells would reduce the likelihood that potentially cancerous cells can survive. A second important phenomenon associated with cellular senescence is the many changes in function that occur in all cells as they approach senescence. Many senescent cells stop functioning as they did when they still had the capacity to divide. These hundreds of functional losses that precede the loss of division capacity in normal cells mimic many of the functional losses that occur in humans as we age, thus making the study of these cells important in learning more about aging. The third reason why studying s
