injection of adeno-Cre virus. Hepatocytes with
p21 overexpression (p21-OE) were cell-cycle
arrested at d4 after injection and exhibited
signs of senescence by d8 after injection, as
evidenced by loss of lamin B1 and nuclear ex-
trusion of HMGB1 (fig. S13, A to C). RNA ex-
tracted from d4 Tom+hepatocytes collected
by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
and used for RT-qPCR analysis of PASP fac-
tor gene transcripts indicated that p21-OE
induces a PASP in vivo (Fig. 3D and fig. S13D).
Cxcl14was among the up-regulated PASP fac-
tors, prompting us to test whether p21-OE
hepatocytes attract macrophages. Nearly 40%
of p21-OE Tom+hepatocytes were surrounded
by three or more macrophages as early as
d2 after adeno-Cre injection versus ~10% of
Tom+hepatocytes without p21-OE (Fig. 3E).
Macrophage recruitment to p21-OE hepato-
cytes was CXCL14 dependent as assessed by
injection of antibodies against CXCL14 (Fig.
3F). Lymphocytes were also recruited but
later, with B and T cells surrounding p21-OE
hepatocytes at d4 and d8, respectively (Fig. 4,
A and B). By contrast, p21-OE did not prompt
recruitment of natural killer (NK) cells (fig.
S13E). The number of p21-OE hepatocytes
declined sharply by d8, which coincided with
a marked increase in dying p21-OE hepato-
cytes in the presence of M1-differentiated
macrophages in addition to the presence of
both CD4+and CD8+T lymphocytes (Fig. 4,
C to F, and figs. S13F and S14, A and B). Ad-
ministration of a CD8a-neutralizing anti-
body fully prevented the observed decline in
d8 p21-OE hepatocytes (fig. S14, C to G), in-
dicating that their elimination is mediated by
cytotoxic T cells.
We performed a comparative analysis for
overexpression ofp16(p16-OE), a more selec-
tive cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor,
which, unlike p21, only targets G 1 -CDK activ-
ity. At d4, p16-OE MEFs were characterized by
growth inhibition, normalp21levels, and a
secretome of 197 factors, 183 of which overlap
with the PASP of d4 p21-OE MEFs (fig. S15, A
to F, and table S8). Pathway enrichment analy-
ses on the p16-associated secretory phenotype
suggested a high degree of similarity in bio-
logical properties with the PASP, although the
number of immune-systemÐrelated annota-
tions was markedly reduced (fig. S15, G and
H). CM of d4 p16-OE MEFs failed to promote
migration of macrophages in our transwell
assay, which correlated with a lack ofCxcl14
induction (fig. S15I). Likewise, using the same
transgenic approach as used for p21-OE in mice,
we found that p16-OE in hepatocytes triggered
cell-cycle arrest but not immunosurveillance,
which coincided with a lack of p21 and PASP
factor induction, includingCxcl14(fig. S16).
Corresponding analyses of MEFs overexpress-
ing p27, a CDK inhibitor that enables cell-cycle
withdrawal during terminal differentiation,
Sturmlechneret al.,Science 374 , eabb3420 (2021) 29 October 2021 4 of 15
0
1
2
3
4
5
10
15
20
30
40
D 50
Relative expression
A
Migrating macrophages (fold)
CM d4 EV
+IgG
* **
n=6n=6
n=6
d4 Tom+hepatocytes
d4 Tom+p21-OE hepatocytes
p21 Cxcl14 Igfbp3 Adam15 Ssc5d App Fn1 Psap
*
C pCAG STOP p21-Myc-Flag WPRE L-p21
Migrating macrophages (fold)
n=5n=5n=5n=5
CM d4 p21-OE
+IgG
CM d4 p21-OE
+CXCL14
CM d4
B
Ai14;L-p21
or
Ai14 mice
Tom+;p21-OE
or
Tom+ hepatocytes
Adeno-Cre
Ai14
* *
**
n=3
n=4
n=3
n=4
n=4 n=4
n=4
n=4 n=4 n=4 n=4
n=4
pCAG STOP tdTomato WPRE
*
*
* *
*
* *
n=4n=4n=4n=4
Tom
+
hepatocytes joined
by
3 F4/80
+
cells (%)
***
***
ns
ns
***
***
n=6
n=5
n=6
n=4 n=5
n=4
MAb730 MAb866
F
To
m
+
hepatocytes joined
by
3 F4/80
+
cells (%)
***
***
***
Ai14
Ai14;L-p21
E d2d4d8
n=4
n=4n=5
n=5
n=4n=5
F4/80
Tom
DNA
0
1
2
3
4
0
1
2
3
5
4
0
10
20
30
50
40
60
0
10
20
30
d2 Ai14 IgG
d2 Ai14;L-p21 IgG
d2 Ai14;L-p21 CXCL14
50
40
CM d4 p21-OE
CM d4 p21-OE
CM d4 p21-OE
Fig. 3. p21-induced immunosurveillance requires PASP factor CXCL14.(A) Transwell migration assay
with CM in the presence of CXCL14-neutralizing or IgG antibodies. (B) as in (A) but with CM from
shRNA-transduced MEFs. (C) Schematic of the transgenes used for Cre-inducible expression of Myc-Flag–
tagged p21 (L-p21forLoxP/Stop/LoxP-p21) and tdTomato (Ai14) (top) and the experimental setup for
p21-OE induction in hepatocytes via Cre-encoding adenovirus injection (bottom). (D) RT-qPCR on flow-sorted
Tom+hepatocytes. (E) Representative image and quantification of Tom+hepatocytes joined by≥3 F4/80+
cells (arrowheads). (F) As in (E) but assessing livers from mice treated with CXCL14-neutralizing or
IgG control antibodies. Scale bars: 10mm (E). Data represent means ± SEM. Experiments in the above
panels were performed once. ns, not significant. P< 0.05; P< 0.01; P< 0.001. One-way ANOVA
with Sidak’s correction [(A), (B), (E), and (F)] and unpaired two-tailedttests (D).
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