BRD4 and gastric cancer: While it is clear that inhibition of BRD4 induces cellular senescence in some gastric cancer cells and the senescence partially accounts for the halted proliferation of these gastric cancer cells (Fig. 1), it has to be noted that BRD4 has been shown to be essential for the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in oncogene- or DNA damage-induced cellular senescence54.