Integrin-linked kinase: A new actor in the ageing process?

Schematic representation of ILK implication in ageing. (Upper panel) Cellular senescence. Physiological context: ILK is overexpressed in cells from old mice, inducing senescent genes (Chen et al., 2006). Pathological context: ILK is overexpressed in cancer cells, and its repression induces senescence (Zhu et al., 2014 and Duminuco et al., 2015). Some extracellular stressors such as ROS and hyperphosphatemia induce senescence through ILK activation (Troyano et al., 2015; Troyano-Suárez et al., 2015). (Lower panel) Organismal Ageing. Old or hyperphosphatemic animals show increased ILK (Troyano et al., 2015; Troyano-Suárez et al., 2015). Moderate repression (├) or strong repression (╟) of ILK induce different consequences in organisms (Kumsta et al., 2014; Nishimura et al., 2014).143