Human Telomere Dynamics and the Balance Between Cancer and Atherosclerosis
Today I'll point out a great open access paper on the evolution of human telomere dynamics: telomere length, how that length changes over time, and especially how it changes with aging. This makes a good companion piece to another paper from last week that covered the differences in telomere dynamics between mice and humans. This is quite important, since most of the work on this topic involves mouse studies, not human studies. As telomerase gene therapies continue to extend average telomere length and - in mice at least - also extend healthy life span, this is becoming a hot topic in the aging research community. It is increasingly a good idea to have a grounding of the basics and current scientific thinking on this portion of our biochemistry. Sooner or later someone will be selling telomerase gene therapies to the public as an alleged method to slow the progression of aging, and most likely selling these treatments well in advance of any comprehensive human studies or definitive answers as to their effectiveness. You will find yourself in the position of deciding whether or not to pay the price and undertake the therapies. Better to figure out your position and what would change your mind today rather than later.
Telomeres are repeating sequences of DNA that cap the ends of chromosomes. Their purpose is primarily to act as a part of the limiting mechanisms on cell replication: a little of the length is lost with each cell division, and when they become too short the...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
More News: Adenocarcinoma | Biochemistry | Biotechnology | Cancer | Cancer & Oncology | Cardiology | Coronary Heart Disease | Gastroschisis Repair | Gene Therapy | Genetics | Health | Health Medicine & Bioethics Commentators | Heart | Heart Disease | Lung Cancer | Melanoma | Men | Mitochondrial Disease | Pancreas | Pancreatic Cancer | Skin Cancer | Statistics | Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cells | Study