Replicative and irradiation-induced senescence of endothelial cells

This research investigates cellular senescence in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), focusing on their implications for cardiovascular diseases. We employed RNA sequencing to analyze gene expression changes in HUVECs subjected to replicative- or stress-induced senescence via ionizing radiation. Our findings reveal that both senescence types exhibit significant upregulation of genes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and inflammatory pathways, indicating a shared molecular response. Experimental validation confirmed reduced proliferation and increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IL-8) in senescent cells and substantiated the upregulation of EMT marker genes. Additionally, we observed impaired wound healing capacity in senescent cells, highlighting the functional consequences of these cellular state. Our study underscores the critical role of senescence-related changes, contributing to the understanding of age-related cardiovascular pathologies. RNAseq profiling of early passage ("control" = young), replicative senescent ("senescent" = old) and gamma-irradiated ("irradiated") human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) performed in technical triplicates,