Question

Do you think that telomere length may impact a telomerase-based therapy for cancer? How might differences in telomere length impact drug development and clinical trials?

Answer 1

Telomeres are found at the end of the chromosome, which gets reduced in its length after every cycle of replication and finally it get shortened that the cell does not undergo further cycle of replication and enter into cell death. Telomerase is the enzyme which involves in the addition of nucleotides to the telomeres, thereby preventing cell death and make the cells undergo proliferation.

The length of the telomeres plays a crucial role in the telomerase-based therapy for cancer. Cancer cells have a short telomere length, and if the telomerase inhibitor is used, these cells can be made to undergo senescence.

Smaller the length of telomeres, there is an increased possiblity of making the cancerous to undergo senescence quite easier by using telomerase-based therapies. Moreover, greater the telomere length, the more faster the cell will undergo proliferation. Hence, drug development should target mainly decreasing the telomere length. However in clinical trails care should be taken that the telomerase inhibitors should not affect the normal cells.