TELOMERASE ACTIVITY AND TELOMERIC STATES IN CELL PROLIFERATIVE AND DIFFERENTIATIVE MECHANISMS.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes playing an important role in the maintenance of genome integrity. Telomerase is the enzyme acting as a template for addition of new telomeric repeats; this addition is essential for those cellular populations that have proliferative and differentiative potential.
Telomerase and associated proteins are essential in response to DNA damage. Moreover, telomere-associated proteins as TRF2 are involved in all signalling transduction pathway which drive cellular proliferation and differentiation. In somatic cells, shortening of telomeres contributes to the onset of senescence or apoptosis; tissues which require cellular renewal express telomerase activity in order to compensate telomeric shortening. Telomerase activity remains detectable in adult stem cells populations and in cells with high proliferative potential. Reactivation of telomerase activity may be 1 pathogenetic characteristic of neoplastic cellular population favouring tumoral proliferation and progression.
Downloads
Citations
How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.