Why is a drug that inhibits telomerase not a good choice for cancer therapy? Make sure...

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Biology

Why is a drug that inhibits telomerase not a good choice forcancer therapy? Make sure to explain what telomerase does in anormal healthy cell.

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Telomerase the ribonucleoprotein enzyme maintaining the telomeres of eukaryotic chromosomes is active in most human cancers and in germline cells but with few exceptions not in normal human somatic tissues Telomere maintenance is essential to the replicative potential of malignant cells and the inhibition of telomerase can lead to telomere shortening and cessation of unrestrained proliferation We describe novel chemical compounds which selectively inhibit telomerase in vitro and in vivo Treatment of cancer cells with these inhibitors leads to progressive telomere shortening with no acute cytotoxicity but a proliferation arrest after a characteristic lag period with hallmarks of senescence including morphological mitotic and chromosomal aberrations and altered patterns of gene expression Telomerase inhibition and telomere shortening also result in a marked reduction of the tumorigenic potential of drugtreated tumour cells in a mouse xenograft model Telomerase in stem cells Normal tissue stem cells reside in microenvironmental niches that are tissuesorgan specific Stem cells are negative for See Answer

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