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Cellular immortalization is a complex process that requires multiple genetic alterations to overcome restricting barriers, including senescence. Not surprisingly, many of these alterations are associated with cancer; two tumor suppressor pathways, the cellular tumor antigen p53 and p16‐Retinoblastoma (RB) pathways, are the best‐characterized examples, but their mutations alone are known to be insufficient to drive full immortalization. En et al. identified a role for the lamin B receptor (LBR) in promoting cellular proliferation and immortalization in p53‐ and RB‐deficient cells by maintaining their genome integrity and suppressing senescence. Thus, modulation of LBR could be exploited to treat cancer and potentially also to promote cell rejuvenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural products and their derivatives historically represent alternatives to conventional synthetic molecules for pharmacotherapy, ranging from cancer chemotherapeutics to cosmetic ingredients that exert anti-aging activities. Cellular senescence is considered a main driver of skin aging, yet natural products that target skin senescence in a specific manner are not thoroughly explored. Here, we performed a focused compound screen to identify natural products that exert anti-senescence effects. We found that Isatis tinctoria, woad extracts, displayed a senolytic effect on senescent human skin fibroblasts. Furthermore, treatment with woad extracts attenuated the expression of pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), showing a senostatic activity. Intriguingly, woad extracts displayed only a marginal cytotoxic effect toward senescent human lung fibroblasts. Thus, our results reveal the potential activities of woad extracts for targeting skin senescence and suggest that woad extracts could be an attractive ingredient for cosmetics to prevent skin aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]