Publication Date:
2016-01-20
Description:
Telomeres are the protective end-complexes at the termini of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomere attrition can lead to potentially maladaptive cellular changes, block cell division, and interfere with tissue replenishment. Recent advances in the understanding of human disease processes have clarified the roles of telomere biology, especially in diseases of human aging and in some aging-related processes. Greater overall telomere attrition predicts mortality and aging-related diseases in inherited telomere syndrome patients, and also in general human cohorts. However, genetically caused variations in telomere maintenance either raise or lower risks and progression of cancers, in a highly cancer type-specific fashion. Telomere maintenance is determined by genetic factors and is also cumulatively shaped by nongenetic influences throughout human life; both can interact. These and other recent findings highlight both causal and potentiating roles for telomere attrition in human diseases.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Blackburn, Elizabeth H -- Epel, Elissa S -- Lin, Jue -- CA096840/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- GM026259/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 4;350(6265):1193-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3389.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. elizabeth.blackburn@ucsf.edu. ; Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26785477" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Aging/*genetics
;
Cell Division/genetics
;
Disease/*genetics
;
*Genetic Predisposition to Disease
;
Humans
;
Life Style
;
Neoplasms/genetics
;
Stress, Physiological
;
Telomerase/metabolism
;
Telomere/chemistry/*physiology/ultrastructure
;
Telomere Homeostasis/*genetics
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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