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Method Article
Intracellular ROS has been shown to play an important role in the induction of cellular senescence. Here, we describe a sensitive assay for quantifying ROS levels during cellular senescence. We also provide protocols for assessing the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, which reportedly contributes to various age-related dysfunctions.
Cellular senescence has been considered a state of irreversible growth arrest upon exhaustion of proliferative capacity or exposure to various stresses. Recent studies have extended the role of cellular senescence to various physiological processes, including development, wound healing, immune surveillance, and age-related tissue dysfunction. Although cell cycle arrest is a critical hallmark of cellular senescence, an increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production has also been demonstrated to play an important role in the induction of cellular senescence. In addition, recent studies revealed that senescent cells exhibit potent paracrine activities on neighboring cells and tissues through a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The sharp increase in interest regarding therapeutic strategies against cellular senescence emphasizes the need for a precise understanding of senescence mechanisms, including intracellular ROS and the SASP. Here, we describe protocols for quantitatively assessing intracellular ROS levels during H-Ras-induced cellular senescence using ROS-sensitive fluorescent dye and flow cytometry. In addition, we introduce sensitive techniques for the analysis of the induction of mRNA expression and secretion of SASP factors. These protocols can be applied to various cellular senescence models.
More than 50 years ago, Hayflick and Moorhead revealed that normal cells enter irreversible growth arrest upon the exhaustion of their proliferative potential after a certain number of cell divisions1. This phenomenon is now known as replicative senescence and is believed to strongly correlate with organismal aging2. Although the progressive erosion of telomeres is considered a major cause of replicative senescence, various cellular stresses, such as DNA damage, oncogenic activation, and oxidative stress, have been reported to induce another type of cellular senescence called "premature senescence" or "stress-induced senescence". Interestingly, premature senescence plays a potent tumor-suppressive role upon the activation of oncogenes such as H-Ras and BRAF. Studies of mouse models and human tissues have produced strong evidence that biomarkers of cell senescence were predominantly present in premalignant lesions where oncogenic Ras and BRAF are activated but were diminished in malignant cancers that developed from these lesions3,4,5. Beyond its role in aging and tumor suppression, cellular senescence has been shown in previous studies to play a role in various physiological processes, including wound healing, tissue repair, immune surveillance, and embryonic development6.
Although growth arrest has been extensively studied as a hallmark of cellular senescence7, a significant body of evidence suggests that intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) also contributes to cellular senescence8. The elevation of ROS levels during various types of cellular senescence, including replicative senescence and oncogene-induced senescence (OIS), was originally reported decades ago9,10. A more directly, exogenous treatment with a sublethal dose of H2O2 induces senescence11,12. The inhibition of ROS-scavenging enzymes, such as SOD1, also causes premature senescence13. In contrast, low ambient oxygen conditions and increasing ROS scavenging delay the onset of senescence10,14,15. These results undoubtedly indicate that ROS are important mediators or determinants of cellular senescence induction. However, how ROS contribute to the induction of cellular senescence and how ROS levels are elevated during cellular senescence require further investigation.
Recent studies have revealed that senescent cells have potent paracrine activities on neighboring cells and tissues through an SASP16,17. In aged tissue, senescent cells promote age-related tissue dysfunctions via many pathways through SASP in addition to an autonomous depletion of proliferative cells. Various proinflammatory factors, such as IL-6, IL-8, TGFβ, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), secreted by senescent cells, cause age-related tissue dysfunctions through the impairment of tissue homeostasis, destruction of the tissue architecture, senescence of neighboring cells, and sterile inflammation18,19. However, SASPs can have beneficial effects depending on the biological context. In addition, the heterogenetic nature of SASPs depends on the senescent cell type and the cell stage, emphasizing the need for further research19.
Here, we describe rapid and sensitive cytometry-based techniques for assessing intracellular ROS levels during OIS. In addition, methods for the analysis of SASP factors using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and ELISA are introduced.
1. Inducing Oncogene-induced Senescence
2. Monitoring Senescence via Senescence-associated β-galactosidase Staining
3. Quantifying a Reactive Oxygen Species Induction During H-Ras-induced Senescence
4. Quantifying IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA expression for Senescence-associated Secretory Phenotype Analysis Using a Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction
5. Quantifying the Levels of Secreted IL-6 and IL-8 Proteins for a Senescence-associated Secretory Phenotype Analysis Using ELISA
An example of H-Ras-induced senescence is shown in Figure 1. An infection of WI-38 normal human fibroblasts with the H-RasV12 retrovirus induced dramatic morphological changes (Figure 1B). In addition, as shown in Figure 1C, SA β-gal staining activity was remarkably increased upon H-RasV12 expression. More than 70% of the cells showed SA β-gal staining activity 6 d after the H-RasV12 retrov...
Here, we have presented methods for monitoring intracellular ROS levels during H-Ras-induced senescence in WI-38 normal human fibroblasts. Intracellular ROS levels in live cells can be measured quantitatively using the cell-permeable reagent DCF-DA and flow cytometry. Upon cellular uptake, DCF-DA is deacetylated by intracellular esterases and, subsequently, oxidized by ROS to form highly fluorescent 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein (DCF). DCF fluorescence can be detected by flow cytometry using an FL1 detector (green fl...
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (2015R1D1A1A01060839) (to Young Yeon Kim) and by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2016R1A2B2008887, No. 2016R1A5A2007009) (to Jeanho Yun).
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
REAGENTS | |||
poly-L-lysine | Sigma-Aldrich | P2636 | |
BOSC 23 | ATCC | CRL-11269 | |
FBS | GIBCO | 16000-044 | |
penicillin/streptomycin | wellgene | LS202-02 | |
PBS | Hyclone | SH30013.02 | |
DMEM | GIBCO | 12800-082 | |
OPTI-MEM | GIBCO | 31985-070 | |
pBabe puro-H-RasV12 | Addgene | 1768 | |
pGAG/pol | Addgene | 14887 | |
pVSVG | Addgene | 1733 | |
Turbofect | Thermo Fisher Scientific | R0531 | |
polybrene | Sigma-Aldrich | H9268 | 8 mg/mL |
puromycin | Sigma-Aldrich | P8833 | 2 mg/mL |
formaldehyde | Sigma-Aldrich | F8775 | |
5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl β D-galactopyranoside (X-gal) | Sigma-Aldrich | B4252 | |
potassium ferrocyanide | Sigma-Aldrich | B4252 | |
potassium ferricyanide | Sigma-Aldrich | P9387 | |
trypsin-EDTA | wellgene | LS015-01 | |
DCF-DA | Sigma-Aldrich | D6883 | 10 mM |
Trizol | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 15596026 | |
MMLV Reverse transcriptase | Promega | M1701 | |
SYBR Green PCR master 2x mix | Takara | PR820A | |
Random Primer | Promega | C118A | |
Tween-20 | Sigma-Aldrich | P9416 | |
Ultra-pure distilled water | Invitrogen | 10977015 | |
Human IL-6 ELISA assay | PeproTech | #900-TM16 | |
Human IL-8 ELISA assay | PeproTech | #900_TM18 | |
EQUIPMENTS | |||
0.45 μm syringe filter | sartorius | 16555 | |
Parafilm | BEMIS | PM-996 | |
Microscope | NIKON | TS100 | |
Flow cytometer | BD Bioscience | LSR Fortessa | |
Amicon Ultra-4ml | Merk Millipore | UFC800324 | |
NanoDrop spectrophotometer | BioDrop | 80-3006-61 | |
Real-time PCR System | Applied Biosystems | ABI Prism 7500 | |
ELISA Reader | Molecular Devices | EMax microplate reader |
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