Laboratory of Cell Cycle Regulation
& Laboratory of Radiation Stress Resistance

Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University

RESEARCH

Senescence Group

The maintenance of tissue homeostasis and integrity is integral to a reproductive success. Cellular senescence, the stress-induced irreversible cell cycle arrest, has been proposed for replicative tissues as an underlying cause of ageing and age-related pathology accompanied by loss of the tissue homeostasis.

Conversely, increasing evidence has demonstrated that cellular senescence is a programmed event actively orchestrating homeostasis of the replicative tissues – via tissue renewal during normal embryonic development and upon tissue injury as well as a cell-autonomous blockade to prevent damaged cells from aberrant cell proliferation (becoming cancerous). Conceptually, however, these might not be case of the non-replicative tissues, such as central nervous system and heart composed of differentiated post-mitotic cells (neurons and cardiac muscle cells, respectively), since irreversible cell cycle arrest is a prerequisite feature of bona-fide senescence.

Dr. Ishikawa is interested in two-sided effects of cellular senescence on the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and integrity through entire life and its common molecular basis between the replicative and non-replicative tissues. Within the senescence group, we are focusing on the senescence program in both mitotic and post-mitotic cells and aiming to understand its role in physiological and pathological contexts in aged individuals, such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and heart failure.