Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that adds telomeric repeats to chromosomal ends. In most normal human somatic cells, telomerase is repressed and telomeres progressively shorten, leading to limited proliferative life-span. Telomerase reactivation is associated with cellular immortalization and is a frequent event during tumorigenesis. The telomerase ribonucleoprotein complex consists of tw...

introduction: the telomeric dna together with its associated  proteins protects the chromosome ends from degradation or aberrant recombination. telomerase and telomere are closely associated with  development of cancers. in this study we aim to investigate the significance of telomerase activity (ta) and telomere length (tl) in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (apl). methods: peripher...

Background: HCC is one of the leading causes cancer-related deaths worldwide. Low response rates with current treatments for demonstrate an urgent unmet need more effective systemic therapies. However, development novel has been challenging due to a lack functionally druggable targets. The nucleoside prodrug analogue THIO first-in-class telomerase-directed, telomere-targeted, anticancer agent t...

Telomerase activity is responsible for telomere maintenance and is believed to be crucial in most immortal cells and cancer cells; however, its clinicopathological significance in gastric cancer remains to be clarified. The aim of the present study was to assess whether malignant progression of gastric adenocarcinoma correlates with telomerase activity. We also investigated the correlation betw...

TEP1 is a mammalian telomerase-associated protein with similarity to the Tetrahymena telomerase protein p80. Like p80, TEP1 is associated with telomerase activity and the telomerase reverse transcriptase, and it specifically interacts with the telomerase RNA. To determine the role of mTep1 in telomerase function in vivo, we generated mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and mice lacking mTep1. The m...

Human telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme is known to be associated with immortalized cancer cells but is absent in most normal tissues. Thus, telomerase appears to be an attractive new target for anticancer agents and an important diagnostic marker of human cancers. Here, we describe an improved telomerase assay method based on the Dynabead biomagnetic separation theory. In this method, 5'-...

Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase capable of utilizing an integrated RNA component as a template to add protective tandem telomeric single strand DNA repeats, TTAGGG, to the ends of chromosomes. Telomere dysfunction and telomerase reactivation are observed in approximately 90% of human cancers; hence, telomerase activation plays a unique role as a nearly universal step on the path to malign...

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is the protein component of telomerase and combined with an RNA molecule, telomerase RNA component, forms the telomerase enzyme responsible for telomere elongation. Telomerase is essential for maintaining telomere length from replicative attrition and thus contributes to the preservation of genome integrity. Although diverse mouse models have been develop...

Telomerase activity is involved in telomere length maintenance. Leukocytes, unlike many human somatic tissues, have detectable telomerase activity. These cells provide a normal human cell type in which to study telomerase. We studied the regulation of telomerase activity and the telomerase RNA component as leukocytes were stimulated to enter the cell cycle. In primary human leukocytes stimulate...

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomeric DNA. A pseudoknot structure is phylogenetically conserved within the RNA component of telomerase in all ciliated protozoans examined. Here, we report that disruptions of the pseudoknot base pairing within the telomerase RNA from Tetrahymena thermophila prevent the stable assembly in vivo of an active telomerase. ...