Can shortened telomeres cause cancer?

Can shortened telomeres cause cancer?

Telomeres affect how our cells age. Once they lose a certain number of bases and become too short, the cell can no longer divide and be replicated. This inactivity or senescence leads to cell death (apoptosis) and the shortening of telomeres is associated with aging, cancer and an increased likelihood of death.

Is there a link between telomere length and cancer?

Cui et al.25 reported a U-shaped association between telomere length in peripheral blood cells and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk and they found that both very short and very long telomeres are risk factors for colorectal cancer.

How telomeres affect cancer cells?

Cancer cells often avoid senescence or cell death by maintaining their telomeres despite repeated cell divisions. This is possible because the cancer cells activate an enzyme called telomerase, which adds genetic units onto the telomeres to prevent them from shortening to the point of causing senescence or cell death.

What diseases are linked to shortened telomeres?

Short telomeres are associated with several disorders and diseases, such as dyskeratosis congenita, aplastic anemia, pulmonary fibrosis, and even cancer. Thus, it is important to understand how telomeres are associated with these diseases and what can be done to prevent such conditions.

What happens when telomere length is critically shortened?

When the telomere becomes too short, the chromosome reaches a ‘critical length’ and can no longer be replicated. This ‘critical length’ triggers the cell to die by a process called apoptosis?, also known as programmed cell death.

Is it good to have long telomeres?

In humans, presence of longer telomeres than normal has been also associated to increased incidence of certain cancers such as lung cancer in large population studies29,30,31,32,33.

Do cancer cells lengthen telomeres?

Cancer cells maintain the telomere length for unlimited growth by telomerase reactivation or a recombination-based mechanism. Recent genome-wide analyses have unveiled genetic and epigenetic alterations of the telomere maintenance machinery in cancer.

What role do telomeres and telomerase play in cancer progression?

Telomeres maintain genomic integrity in normal cells, and their progressive shortening during successive cell divisions induces chromosomal instability. In the large majority of cancer cells, telomere length is maintained by telomerase.

What are telomeres associated with?

Telomeres are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect our chromosomes, like the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces. 3. Without the coating, shoelaces become frayed until they can no longer do their job, just as without telomeres, DNA strands become damaged and our cells can’t do their job.