ArticleNature communications2025
DNA methylation protects cancer cells against senescence.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cellular senescence and regulated cell death in cancer: mechanisms, cross-regulatory networks and therapeutic implications.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2026Review
- UHRF1 overexpression generates distinct senescent states with different Tp53 dependencies.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Identification of Novel Alternative Transcripts of the Human ALKBH Gene Family and Investigation of Their Unique Expression Signatures in Cancer Cells.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis and experimental verification of the roles of SCP2 in colon adenocarcinoma.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Senescence-associated and immune-related 9p21.3 locus genes in colorectal cancer: epigenetic architecture, molecular landscape and therapeutic possibilities.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Alternative Splicing: Molecular Mechanisms, Biological Functions, Diseases, and Potential Therapeutic Targets.MedComm · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Inhibitors of DNA methylation such as 5-aza-deoxycytidine are widely used in experimental and clinical settings. However, their mechanism of action is such that DNA damage inevitably co-occurs with loss of DNA methylation, making it challenging to discern their respective effects. Here we deconvolute the effects of decreased DNA methylation and DNA damage on cancer cells, by using degron alleles of key DNA methylation regulators. We report that cancer cells with decreased DNA methylation-but no DNA damage-enter cellular senescence, with G1 arrest, SASP expression, and SA-β-gal positivity. This senescence is independent of p53 and Rb, but involves p21, which is cytoplasmic and inhibits apoptosis, and cGAS, playing a STING-independent role in the nucleus. Xenograft experiments show that tumor cells can be made senescent in vivo by decreasing DNA methylation. These findings reveal the intrinsic effects of loss of DNA methylation in cancer cells and have practical implications for future therapeutic approaches.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.