ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cellular senescence can be induced by a variety of extrinsic stimuli, and sustained exposure to sunlight is a key factor in photoaging of the skin. Accordingly, irradiation of skin fibroblasts by UVB light triggers cellular senescence, which is thought to contribute to extrinsic skin aging, although molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we addressed molecular mechanisms underlying UVB induced senescence of human diploid fibroblasts. RESULTS: We observed a parallel activation of the p53/p21(WAF1) and p16(INK4a)/pRb pathways. Using genome-wide transcriptome analysis, we identified a transcriptional signature of UVB-induced senescence that was conserved in three independent strains of human diploid fibroblasts (HDF) from skin. In parallel, a comprehensive screen for microRNAs regulated during UVB-induced senescence was performed which identified five microRNAs that are significantly regulated during the process. Bioinformatic analysis of miRNA-mRNA networks was performed to identify new functional mRNA targets with high confidence for miR-15a, miR-20a, miR-20b, miR-93, and miR-101. Already known targets of these miRNAs were identified in each case, validating the approach. Several new targets were identified for all of these miRNAs, with the potential to provide new insight in the process of UVB-induced senescence at a genome-wide level. Subsequent analysis was focused on miR-101 and its putative target gene Ezh2. We confirmed that Ezh2 is regulated by miR-101 in human fibroblasts, and found that both overexpression of miR-101 and downregulation of Ezh2 independently induce senescence in the absence of UVB irradiation. However, the downregulation of miR-101 was not sufficient to block the phenotype of UVB-induced senescence, suggesting that other UVB-induced processes induce the senescence response in a pathway redundant with upregulation of miR-101. CONCLUSION: We performed a comprehensive screen for UVB-regulated microRNAs in human diploid fibroblasts, and identified a network of miRNA-mRNA interactions mediating UVB-induced senescence. In addition, miR-101 and Ezh2 were identified as key players in UVB-induced senescence of HDF.
Subject(s)
Cellular Senescence/genetics , Fibroblasts/metabolism , MicroRNAs/physiology , Polycomb Repressive Complex 2/genetics , RNA, Messenger/genetics , Cell Line, Tumor , Cellular Senescence/radiation effects , Diploidy , Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein , Fibroblasts/radiation effects , Gene Regulatory Networks/radiation effects , Humans , Polycomb Repressive Complex 2/metabolism , RNA Interference/radiation effects , Transcriptome/radiation effects , Ultraviolet RaysABSTRACT
Cellular senescence can be induced by a variety of mechanisms, and recent data suggest a key role for cytokine networks to maintain the senescent state. Here, we have used a proteomic LC-MS/MS approach to identify new extracellular regulators of senescence in human fibroblasts. We identified 26 extracellular proteins with significantly different abundance in conditioned media from young and senescent fibroblasts. Among these was insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6 (IGFBP-6), which was chosen for further analysis. When IGFBP-6 gene expression was downregulated, cell proliferation was inhibited and apoptotic cell death was increased. Furthermore, downregulation of IGFBP-6 led to premature entry into cellular senescence. Since IGFBP-6 overexpression increased cellular lifespan, the data suggest that IGFBP-6, in contrast to other IGF binding proteins, is a negative regulator of cellular senescence in human fibroblasts.
