Disruption of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking as a cellular senescence driver

Senescent cells exhibit a reduced response to intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli. This reduction could be explained by disrupted nuclear transmission of signals. However, this hypothesis required more evidence to complete as a new modality of cellular senescence. Proteomic analysis of the cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions from young and senescent cells revealed disruption of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking (NCT) as an essential feature of replicative senescence (RS) at the global level. Blocking NCT either chemically or genetically induced RS-like senescence phenotypes, named as nuclear barrier-induced senescence (NBIS). Transcriptomic analysis revealed that NBIS had the most similar gene expression pattern to RS, compared with other stress-induced types of cellular senescence. Core proteomic and transcriptomic shared patterns between RS and NBIS included upregulation of endocytosis-lysosome network and downregulation of NCT in senescent cells, which were also conserved in yeast aging model. These results implicate an aging-dependent coordinated reduction in the transmission of extrinsic signals to the nucleus and in the nucleus-to-cytoplasm supply of proteins/RNAs. We further showed that the aging-associated decrease in Sp1 transcription factor expression was responsible for downregulation of NCT. Our results suggest that NBIS is a modality of cellular senescence that can represent the nature of physiological aging in eukaryotes.