title: Telomeres in lung disease.
abstract: Telomeres are DNA-protein structures that cap the ends of chromosomes; telomerase is the enzyme that ensures their integrity. Telomere biology has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of lung diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema, and lung cancer. This review highlights recent discoveries pertaining to the role of telomere biology in lung disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Electronic address: jgansner@partners.org.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gansner
authors.forename: Ivan O
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Rosas
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D054990:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000209:etiology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D009154:Mutation; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000209:etiology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase
keywords: COPD; IPF; TERC; TERT; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; telomerase RNA component; telomerase reverse transcriptase