Telomerase Regulation
Telomerase activity is tightly controlled in humans because telomere length imposes a limit on the number of times that any given cell can divide. Almost all cancer cells have reactivated telomerase in order to overcome this replicative limit via poorly understood mechanisms. One aim is to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms that confine telomerase expression to a subset of stem cells and germ cells and how those regulatory mechanisms are circumvented by cancer cells. Telomere length and telomerase expression also play a role in aging (telomeres become progressively shorter over time), and so a greater understanding of the telomerase regulatory network may also improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of aging and lead to potential anti-aging therapies.
Telomerase regulation in normal cells
Telomerase activity is usually undetectable in most human tissues, except for some proliferating stem-like cells in rapid turnover tissues. Previous reports have shown that mitogen stimulated human T lymphocytes transiently turn on telomerase activity that may reduce the rate of telomere loss during rapid proliferation. However, telomerase activation is transient in T-cells as opposed to cancer cells, and is only maintained for a few days even with continual mitogen stimulation. After approximately 4 days of stimulation, telomerase activity greatly decreases and eventually T-cells stop proliferating. With increased human age, T-lymphocytes show progressive telomere shortening. Almost all cancer cells activate telomerase, it does not turn off, cells achieve unlimited proliferation and telomeres do not further shorten. Currently it is unclear how telomerase activation is regulated in normal cells (such as in T lymphocytes) and how this regulation is hijacked by cancer cells.