On the Far Side of Telomeres: The Many Roles of Telomerase in the Acquisition and Retention of Cancer Stemness

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Terali K., YILMAZER AKTUNA A.

TELOMERE - A COMPLEX END OF A CHROMOSOME, ss.187-214, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5772/65762
  • Dergi Adı: TELOMERE - A COMPLEX END OF A CHROMOSOME
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.187-214
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: telomeres, telomerase, TERT, cancer stemness, CSCs, targeted anticancer therapy, CIRCULATING EPITHELIAL-CELLS, TERT PROMOTER MUTATIONS, ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA, REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE, PROSPECTIVE IDENTIFICATION, STEM/PROGENITOR CELLS, INITIATING CELLS, CYCLIN D1, EXPRESSION, HTERT
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

It is well recognised that upregulation/reactivation of telomerase, the telomere-lengthening enzyme, is the sine qua non of cellular immortalisation and malignant transformation. But there is also convincing evidence that telomerase stands at a crossroads where several developmental signalling pathways meet and that its upregulation/reactivation has effects beyond maintaining telomere length, such as altering energy metabolism and modulating gene expression. We believe that it is important to realise that, in a pathological context, such extratelomeric effects of telomerase are related to the emergence and persistence of the cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype. Given the common conception of cancer stemness as a major contributor to therapy resistance and tumour relapse, a more complete annotation of biological mechanisms for its regulation by telomerase will provide the opportunity to develop telomerase-targeted anticancer therapies which kill or differentiate CSCs effectively.