Cellular senescence has been associated with age-related diseases, wound healing, fibrosis, diabetes and cancer. Senescent cells lack the capacity to proliferate, but are known to aggravate tumorigenesis. The polyploid giant cells arise from the cancer cell population mainly due to genotoxic stress caused by chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. They exhibit features of senescence and have been reported to secrete an array of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. These small molecules can bind to their receptors located on the surface of neighboring cells and activate/deactivate relevant signaling pathways, thereby modulating the tumor microenvironment. Some of these signaling cascade(s) might play a role in imparting therapy resistance to the cancer cells. This review throws light on the incidence of senescence and how the senescent polyploid giant cells affect the tumor microenvironment. Their role in giving rise to chemoresistant cancer cell population as well as acquired chemoresistance in the neighboring cancer cells along with various potential and established therapeutic avenues have also been discussed.

细胞衰老与年龄相关的疾病，伤口愈合，纤维化，糖尿病和癌症有关。衰老细胞缺乏增殖能力，但已知会加剧肿瘤的发生。多倍体巨细胞主要由于化学疗法和/或放射疗法引起的遗传毒性应激而从癌细胞群中产生。它们表现出衰老的特征，并且据报道会分泌一系列细胞因子，趋化因子和生长因子。这些小分子可以与位于邻近细胞表面的受体结合并激活/灭活相关的信号传导途径，从而调节肿瘤的微环境。这些信号级联中的一些可能在赋予癌细胞治疗抗性中起作用。这篇综述揭示了衰老的发生以及衰老的多倍体巨细胞如何影响肿瘤的微环境。还讨论了它们在引起化学抗性癌细胞群以及在邻近癌细胞中获得的化学抗性以及各种潜在的和已建立的治疗途径中的作用。