Natural and pharmacological regulation of telomerase.
The extremities of eukaryotic chromosomes are called telomeres. They have a structure unlike the bulk of the chromosome, which allows the cell DNA repair machinery to distinguish them from 'broken' DNA ends. But these specialised structures present a problem when it comes to replicating the DNA. Indeed, telomeric DNA progressively erodes with each round of cell division in cells that do not express telomerase, a specialised reverse transcriptase necessary to fully duplicate the telomeric DNA. Telomerase is expressed in tumour cells but not in most somatic cells and thus telomeres and telomerase may be proposed as attractive targets for the discovery of new anticancer agents.
Mergny
Jean-Louis
JL
Laboratoire de Biophysique, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, INSERM U 201, CNRS UMR 8646, 43 rue Cuvier, F-75005 Paris, France. mergny@vnumail.com
Riou
Jean-François
JF
Mailliet
Patrick
P
Teulade-Fichou
Marie-Paule
MP
Gilson
Eric
E
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D019098:Telomerase