Tiptoeing to chromosome tips: facts, promises and perils of today's human telomere biology

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Authors

FAJKUS Jiří ŠIMÍČKOVÁ Marta MALÁSKA Jan

Year of publication 2002
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Field Genetics and molecular biology
Keywords human telomere; telomerase regulation; cancer; inhibiotin; cell engineering; tissue engineering
Description The past decade has witnessed an explosion of knowledge concerning the structure and function of chromosome terminal structures-telomeres. Today's telomere research has advanced from a pure descriptive approach of DNA and protein components to an elementary understanding of telomere metabolism, and now to promising applications in medicine. These applications include 'passive' ones, among which the use of analysis of telomeres and telomerase for cancer diagnostics is the best known. The 'active' applications involve targeted downregulation or upregulation of telomere synthesis, either to mortalize immortal cancer cells, or to rejuvenate mortal somatic cells and tissues for cellular transplantations , respectively.
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