Generating mouse models to validate telomeres and
telomerase as therapeutic targets for cancer and age - related diseases.
«People have been targeting
telomerase as a potential cancer therapy for a long time,» he says, noting that anti-telomerase drugs are in phase II clinical trials against several cancers.
It is now established that nearly 90 percent of cancers develop a way of reactivating
telomerase as a means of survival.
«Our findings have implications for how to think about the earliest processes that drive cancer and
telomerase as a therapeutic target.
Not exact matches
TERT is a subunit of the enzyme
telomerase, which is a widely known enzyme because it has been touted
as an anti-aging enzyme.
The new research, which studied the immortalization process using genome - engineered cells in culture and also tracked skin cells
as they progressed from a mole into a malignant melanoma, suggests that
telomerase plays a more complex role in cancer.
As with all of our other genes, the DNA that encodes the
telomerase enzyme is present in all of our cells — but because it's needed only after quite a few cell divisions have occurred, it's not needed in most cells for most or all of the time, so it's turned off.
As I considered this problem, I quickly saw the tool that I wanted to lock up:
telomerase.
This widespread lack of the need for
telomerase is used by evolution
as a key component of our defense against cancer, because having a limit to the size and renewal of telomeres prevents our cells from replicating themselves indefinitely — the crucial hallmark of cancer.
His research focuses on the development of high - precision, single - molecule methods to study the mechanism of action of macromolecular machines, such
as dynein,
telomerase, and Cas9.
«We identified a motif in the protein component of
telomerase that controls how the enzyme carries out its activity in vertebrates such
as ourselves.»
The present study arose
as the Skordalakes laboratory sought to better understand the role of TRBD in
telomerase function.
Since then, his team has been creating molecular inhibitors to target the TRBD RNA - binding pockets
as means to inhibit
telomerase enzymatic activity.
«
Telomerase is a unique protein - RNA complex where the protein subunit uses its RNA component
as a template to add identical fragments of DNA to the end of chromosomes,» said Emmanuel Skordalakes, Ph.D., associate professor in the Gene Expression and Regulation program of Wistar's NCI - designated Cancer Center.
As in the former case, after being treated with
telomerase gene therapy «the telomeres in the peripheral blood in these mice also lengthened and the number of blood cells increased considerably,» write the authors.
«We provide proof - of - concept that the
telomerase based treatment -LRB-...) has a therapeutic effect on the type of aplastic anemia caused by short telomeres,» the authors state in an article in the journal Blood, with Christian Bär among them
as the first author,
as well
as Juan Manuel Povedano.
Toward the goal of precisely augmenting
telomerase activity selectively within adult stem cells, this discovery reveals the crucial step in
telomerase catalytic cycle
as an important new drug target.
Just
as youthful stem cells use
telomerase to offset telomere length loss, cancer cells employ
telomerase to maintain their aberrant and destructive growth.
Small molecule drugs can be screened or designed to increase
telomerase activity exclusively within stem cells for disease treatment
as well
as anti-aging therapies without increasing the risk of cancer.
The
telomerase deficiency of human somatic cells reduces the risk of cancer development,
as telomerase fuels uncontrolled cancer cell growth.
In this webinar, our experts will describe the advances in telomere research
as it applies to human health and how deeper characterization of the
telomerase maintenance process can uncover targets for therapies.
When it filed for a patent on the gene, it didn't list the academic collaborators
as co-inventors, although Greider maintains that her lab contributed biochemical protocols for purifying
telomerase that were crucial to Geron's discovery.
The five - year study, led by UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center member Dr. Jianyu Rao, measured the ability of TSY - 1 to affect
telomerase activity in cancer cells lines, including one known
as HL - 60,
as well
as normal peripheral blood mononuclear and hematopoietic stem cells.
Arsenic, the researchers found, stops a gene for an important part of the
telomerase enzyme, known
as the reverse transcriptase subunit, from being translated.
As a safeguard, in cells such as egg, sperm, and stem cells, an enzyme called telomerase is responsible for preventing this wear and tear by maintaining telomere lengt
As a safeguard, in cells such
as egg, sperm, and stem cells, an enzyme called telomerase is responsible for preventing this wear and tear by maintaining telomere lengt
as egg, sperm, and stem cells, an enzyme called
telomerase is responsible for preventing this wear and tear by maintaining telomere length.
An unusual enzyme called
telomerase acts on parts of chromosomes known
as telomeres.
No matter where the source of their DNA,
as soon
as the embryos became hollow balls of cells, between the developmental stages known
as blastocyst and morula,
telomerase lengthened telomeres to the right size.
Their younger cousins recovered fine,
as did older mice with
telomerase intact, but more than half of the aged, telomere - depleted mice died from the treatment.
Telomerase has been hailed
as a potential elixir for eternal youth.
Two independent groups of scientists have now linked some of these cases to mutations in genes encoding
telomerase, an enzyme that protects the fragile ends of chromosomes, known
as telomeres.
Lin and Artandi wondered whether they could use
telomerase expression
as a marker to identify the subset of cells responsible for regenerating the liver during normal turnover.
Most adult cells have little to no
telomerase activity, and the progressive shortening of their telomeres serves
as a kind of molecular clock that limits the cells» — and, some believe, an organism's — life span.
For example, labeling of these cells with stem - like cell associated markers (p63, nestin, and
telomerase) have heavily implicated these cells
as stem cells [13].
Her lab also discovered a hidden regulatory landscape on the surfaces of cellular proteins, which act
as traffic cops for
telomerase.
As you might expect, these facts complicate the notion of boosting
telomerase production to stop ageing.
In fact, some scientists propose decreasing
telomerase production
as a means of fighting cancer.
Lundblad has shown that
telomerase is switched on just
as a cell has finished copying its genetic material, and then rapidly switched off, through assembly and disassembly of its protein subunits.
As you might imagine,
telomerase has attracted a great deal of interest.
Telomerase appears most frequently in stem cells,
as well
as in cells that divide frequently (such
as those that take part in immune functions).
Telomerase: Increased levels of telomerase have been shown to extend life in mice, as well as reducing cancer incidence in tha
Telomerase: Increased levels of
telomerase have been shown to extend life in mice, as well as reducing cancer incidence in tha
telomerase have been shown to extend life in mice,
as well
as reducing cancer incidence in that species.
Various types of meditation have been shown to improve well - being among different populations such
as physicians and the general public.14, 15, 16 Preliminary evidence suggests that meditation - based interventions may slow cellular aging rates by increasing
telomerase activity, but many such studies lacked an active control group.17, 18 Recent randomized trials in breast cancer suggest that long - term intensive meditation interventions might have positive effects on
telomerase activity.
Theoretically, a sustained increase could stabilize or even lengthen telomeres over time,
as shown in a previous study where intensive lifestyle intervention led to higher
telomerase activity after 4 months, and longer telomeres after 5 years, with such changes associated with better adherence.43, 44
Dr. Blackburn won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular nature of telomeres and for co-discovering the enzyme
telomerase; both telomeres and
telomerase are thought to play central roles in aging and diseases such
as cancer.
F: Demonstrates that extensive serial dilutions of central - intermediate and peripheral area HCECs only show
telomerase activity in the endothelial peripheral area
as taken from mixed aged donors (21 - 52 years).
As a consequence,
telomerase regulation and telomere shortening can not be studied in mice and must be understood in the context of a primary human cell system.
Telomerase is being explored
as a target for therapeutic cancer vaccines.
«We provide proof - of - concept that the
telomerase based treatment -LRB-...) has a therapeutic effect on the type of aplastic anaemia caused by short telomeres,» the authors state in an article in the journal Blood, with Christian Bär among them
as the first author,
as well
as Juan Manuel Povedano.
Another is to monitor the effects of transplanting
telomerase - deficient but ex vivo telomere - extended bone marrow into late - generation, TMM - disabled mice, so
as to be certain that the niche of such animals (or, by implication, aging humans) will support the homing, engraftment, and initial development and differentiation of such cells; the necessary research is underway now thanks to a SENS Foundation grant to Dr. Zhenyu Ju of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Sciences and Max - Planck - Partner - Group on Stem Cell Aging in the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and research partner of prominent telomere biologist Dr. K. Lenhard Rudolph.
Free radical damage caused by electron - seeking, highly reactive, oxidative molecules has been identified
as the source of many maladies through mechanisms such
as inhibition of
telomerase, changes to cellular permeability and DNA damage.
However,
as you age,
Telomerase activity begins to slow down, subsequently, speeding the rate of developing aging symptoms and disease.