A potential role of microRNAs in protein accumulation in cellular senescence analyzed by bioinformatics.

Cellular senescence is an important protective mechanism against cell proliferation and has critical roles in aging and aging-related disease. Recently, one interesting observation is that the protein abundance is higher in senescent cells than that in young cells. So far, some factors were presented to interpret this observation, such as active protein synthesis linked with autophagy, mTOR, and oxidative stress. Here, applying bioinformatic analysis of microRNA profiles in young cells and aging cells, we revealed that globally senescent cells show lower miRNA abundance than that in young cells, suggesting that the repression of protein synthesis by miRNA in senescent cells could be largely attenuated. This finding provides clues that protein accumulation in cellular senescence could be associated with lower miRNA abundance in aging cells.