Telomere Length as a Target for Therapy

Average telomere length in a tissue is some reflection of (a) stem cell activity and (b) pace of cell division. Telomeres, repeated DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, lose some of their length with each cell division, and cells self-destruct or become senescent when telomeres become too short. This limits the ability of somatic cells to replicate, reducing the odds that a given cell will mutate to become cancerous by imposing a limit on cell activity and cell life span, enforcing turnover of cells in tissues. Stem cells, in comparison, are a small, well protected, privileged set of cell populations that use telomerase to extend their telomeres after cell division. Stem cells produce daughter somatic cells with long telomeres to replace those lost to telomere shortening and other wear and tear. Since stem cell activity declines with age, and damage and cell stress increases in somatic cell populations, the average length of telomeres tends to decline with age. This relationship needs a large study population to appear; individuals are highly variable. Nonetheless, this was one of the first possible measures of biological age to arise from the research community, and was greeted with some excitement for a time. While the research and development communities are just as subject to fashion and mania as every other human endeavor, the focus of discussion moving over time from topic to topic, it is important to remember that this doesn't change the underlying s...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs