Telomere dysfunction suppresses spontaneous tumorigenesis in vivo by initiating p53-dependent cellular senescence

Dysfunctional telomeres induce p53-dependent cellular senescence and apoptosis, but it is not known which function is more important for tumour suppression in vivo. We used the p53^R172P knock-in mouse, which is unable to induce apoptosis but retains intact cell-cycle arrest and cellular senescence pathways, to show that spontaneous tumorigenesis is potently repressed in Terc^-/- p53^R172P mice. Tumour suppression is accompanied by global induction of p53, p21 and the senescence marker senescence-associated-β-galactosidase. By contrast, cellular senescence was unable to suppress chemically induced skin carcinomas. These results indicate that suppression of spontaneous tumorigenesis by dysfunctional telomeres requires the activation of the p53-dependent cellular senescence pathway.