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Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis

Telomeres are located at the ends of chromosomes and protect them from degradation. Suppressing the activity of telomerase, a telomere-synthesizing enzyme, and maintaining short telomeres is a protective mechanism against cancer in humans. In most human somatic cells, the expression of telomerase re...

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Autores principales: Trybek, Tomasz, Kowalik, Artur, Góźdź, Stanisław, Kowalska, Aldona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: D.A. Spandidos 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7377093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32724340
http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.11659
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author Trybek, Tomasz
Kowalik, Artur
Góźdź, Stanisław
Kowalska, Aldona
author_facet Trybek, Tomasz
Kowalik, Artur
Góźdź, Stanisław
Kowalska, Aldona
author_sort Trybek, Tomasz
collection PubMed
description Telomeres are located at the ends of chromosomes and protect them from degradation. Suppressing the activity of telomerase, a telomere-synthesizing enzyme, and maintaining short telomeres is a protective mechanism against cancer in humans. In most human somatic cells, the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is repressed and telomerase activity is inhibited. This leads to the progressive shortening of telomeres and inhibition of cell growth in a process called replicative senescence. Most types of primary cancer exhibit telomerase activation, which allows uncontrolled cell proliferation. Previous research indicates that TERT activation also affects cancer development through activities other than the canonical function of mediating telomere elongation. Recent studies have improved the understanding of the structure and function of telomeres and telomerase as well as key mechanisms underlying the activation of TERT and its role in oncogenesis. These advances led to a search for drugs that inhibit telomerase as a target for cancer therapy. The present review article summarizes the organization and function of telomeres, their role in carcinogenesis, and advances in telomerase-targeted therapy.
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spelling pubmed-73770932020-07-27 Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis Trybek, Tomasz Kowalik, Artur Góźdź, Stanisław Kowalska, Aldona Oncol Lett Review Telomeres are located at the ends of chromosomes and protect them from degradation. Suppressing the activity of telomerase, a telomere-synthesizing enzyme, and maintaining short telomeres is a protective mechanism against cancer in humans. In most human somatic cells, the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is repressed and telomerase activity is inhibited. This leads to the progressive shortening of telomeres and inhibition of cell growth in a process called replicative senescence. Most types of primary cancer exhibit telomerase activation, which allows uncontrolled cell proliferation. Previous research indicates that TERT activation also affects cancer development through activities other than the canonical function of mediating telomere elongation. Recent studies have improved the understanding of the structure and function of telomeres and telomerase as well as key mechanisms underlying the activation of TERT and its role in oncogenesis. These advances led to a search for drugs that inhibit telomerase as a target for cancer therapy. The present review article summarizes the organization and function of telomeres, their role in carcinogenesis, and advances in telomerase-targeted therapy. D.A. Spandidos 2020-08 2020-05-21 /pmc/articles/PMC7377093/ /pubmed/32724340 http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.11659 Text en Copyright: © Trybek et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Review
Trybek, Tomasz
Kowalik, Artur
Góźdź, Stanisław
Kowalska, Aldona
Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title_full Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title_fullStr Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title_full_unstemmed Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title_short Telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
title_sort telomeres and telomerase in oncogenesis
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7377093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32724340
http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.11659
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