p21 induces a senescence program and skeletal muscle dysfunction

Davis A. Englund, Alyssa Jolliffe, Zaira Aversa, Xu Zhang, Ines Sturmlechner, Ayumi E. Sakamoto, Julianna D. Zeidler, Gina M. Warner, Colton McNinch, Thomas A. White, Eduardo N. Chini, Darren J. Baker, Jan M. van Deursen, Nathan K. LeBrasseur*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    37 Citations (Scopus)
    92 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Recent work has established associations between elevated p21, the accumulation of senescent cells, and skeletal muscle dysfunction in mice and humans. Using a mouse model of p21 overexpression (p21OE), we examined if p21 mechanistically contributes to cellular senescence and pathological features in skeletal muscle. We show that p21 induces several core properties of cellular senescence in skeletal muscle, including an altered transcriptome, DNA damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Furthermore, p21OE mice exhibit manifestations of skeletal muscle pathology, such as atrophy, fibrosis, and impaired physical function when compared to age-matched controls. These findings suggest p21 alone is sufficient to drive a cellular senescence program and reveal a novel source of skeletal muscle loss and dysfunction.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number101652
    Number of pages11
    JournalMolecular metabolism
    Volume67
    Early online date9-Dec-2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan-2023

    Keywords

    • Aging
    • Cellular senescence
    • DNA damage
    • Fibrosis
    • Physical function
    • Sarcopenia
    • Senescence-associated secretory phenotype

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