SHP2: a new target for pro‐senescence cancer therapies

Cellular senescence is a response to stress that disables cell proliferation and orchestrates an inflammatory process that eliminates damaged cells. The first pro‐senescence drugs for cancer treatment are now a clinical reality, but still few targets have been identified whose inactivation results in cancer cell senescence. Current work published in this issue of T he EMBO J ournal makes an important contribution to this area by discovering that pharmacological inhibition of the tyrosine phosphatase SHP 2 blocks mouse mammary cancer through the induction of senescence (Lan et al , [Lan L, 2015]).