Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Almost all cancer cells have shortened telomeres. [20] This may seem counter-intuitive, as short telomeres should activate the ATR/ATM DNA damage checkpoint and thereby prevent division. Resolving the question of why cancer cells have short telomeres led to the development of a two-stage model for how cancer cells subvert telomeric regulation ...
[10] [11] Examining telomeres is one of the most important fields of research related to aging. It is also very important to investigate the mechanisms of maintaining telomerase, cell cleansing (old cells that accumulate in tissues and sometimes cause cancer and inflammation) and the production of new cells in long-lived organisms.
The steady shortening of telomeres with each replication in somatic (body) cells may have a role in senescence [19] and in the prevention of cancer. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] This is because the telomeres act as a sort of time-delay "fuse", eventually running out after a certain number of cell divisions and resulting in the eventual loss of vital genetic ...
Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (also known as "ALT") is a telomerase-independent mechanism by which cancer cells avoid the degradation of telomeres.. At each end of the chromosomes of most eukaryotic cells, there is a telomere: a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes.
The role of telomeres and telomerase in cell aging and cancer was established by scientists at biotechnology company Geron with the cloning of the RNA and catalytic components of human telomerase [9] and the development of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assay for telomerase activity called the TRAP assay, which surveys telomerase ...
Therefore, it is responsible for the self-renewal properties of stem cells. Telomerase are found specifically to target shorter telomere over longer telomere, due to various regulatory mechanisms inside the cells that reduce the affinity of telomerase to longer telomeres. This preferential affinity maintains a balance within the cell such that ...
Aside from gene amplification, DMs play a role in cancer through driving tumor evolution and treatment resistance. While DMs lack the centromeres and telomeres usually essential for subdividing chromosome material during cell division, they can segregate to the daughter cell nucleus by associating with the telomeric ends of mitotic chromosomes ...
This enzyme extends telomeres, preventing the telomeres of cancer cells from shortening and giving them infinite replicative potential. [14] A proposed treatment for cancer is the usage of telomerase inhibitors that would prevent the restoration of the telomere, allowing the cell to die like other body cells. [15]