MADRID, SPAIN—Malignant cancers are adept at disrupting the body’s efforts to maintain order and normalcy, but research is finding that it may be possible to reinstate the defenses that tumor cells overcome. Mechanisms that slow or inhibit the progression of cancer include apoptosis (programmed cell death) and oncogene-induced senescence, a nondividing state that occurs in response to the expression of cancercausing genes. Disrupting these processes is often necessary for rogue cancer cells to thrive, and scientists hope that keeping them in place will have therapeutic potential. While apoptosis has been wellstudied over the years, oncogeneinduced senescence is less welldefined but is garnering increased interest among oncology researchers. Ongoing studies related to this process were discussed in October at Oncogenes and Human Cancer: The Next 25 Years, a conference focusing on the future of cancer research on the 25th anniversary of the isolation of oncogenes from human tumors. “The role of senescence in the prevention of cancer is likely to be substantial,” said Daniel Peeper, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam.