On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 15:36:04 +0000 (UTC), Tim Tyler 
wrote:

>dkomo  wrote:
>: Tim Tyler wrote:
>
>:> Nothing's eternal - but those "negligible senescence" cases
>:> are a bit inconvenient for any notion that nature can
>:> never repair the damage caused by aging.
>
>: It may not be a matter of repairing the damage, but rather not letting
>: damage occur in the first place!
>
>: I think in essence this is exactly where our viewpoint differs. [...]
>
>Nope.  Preventing damage from occurring is one of the approaches
>employed by organisms in their attempts to avert senescence.

Here is another example of the reason FOR senescence:   MYC is a
well-known oncogene, causing cancer. A recent study on the mechanism
shows that MYC activates WRN, the Werner Syndrome gene and that "WRN
up-regulation by MYC may promote MYC-driven tumorigenesis by
preventing cellular senescence".  The paper is 

Werner syndrome protein limits MYC-induced cellular senescence.
Grandori C, Wu KJ, Fernandez P, Ngouenet C, Grim J, Clurman BE, Moser
MJ, Oshima J, Russell DW, Swisshelm K, Frank S, Amati B, Dalla-Favera
R, Monnat RJ Jr.
Genes Dev. 2003 Jul 1;17(13):1569-74.

Senescence and programmed cell death (apoptosis) are essential
features in normal function.
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