SHP2: a new target for pro-senescence cancer therapies

Cellular senescence is a response to stress that disables cell proliferation and orchestrates an inflammatory process that eliminates damaged cells. The first pro-senescence drugs for cancer treatment are now a clinical reality, but still few targets have been identified whose inactivation results in cancer cell senescence. Current work published in this issue of The EMBO Journal makes an important contribution to this area by discovering that pharmacological inhibition of the tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 blocks mouse mammary cancer through the induction of senescence (Lan et al, 2015).