Considering therapy-induced senescence as a mechanism of tumour dormancy contributing to disease recurrence.

The capability of tumour cells to escape from therapy-induced senescence, as well as cell-non-autonomous functions of senescence, support the premise that senescence could serve as one pathway to tumour dormancy (among others that include quiescence and diapause) that is permissive for disease recurrence. Consequently, the pharmacologic targeting of senescent tumour cells could mitigate the risk for cancer resurgence, thereby enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of cancer chemotherapy.