TELOMERE MAINTENANCE MECHANISMS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CELLULAR AGING AND DISEASE PROGRESSION

Abstract

Background: Telomeres are repetitive DNA strands which help in safeguarding the ends of chromosomes and regulates the longevity of the cell and cellular stability. Shortening of telomeres occurs gradually as part and parcel of aging and the incidence of disease.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to compare the telomere maintenance processes,such as telomerase-activity and other forms of telomere lengthening (AlT), with their effects on cell-aging and disease-progression.

Methodology: The measurement of telomere length and telomerase activity was conducted on somatic, stem and cancer models of cell model through qPCR, TRF assays and sequencing based methods. Comparative analysis was carried out to determine whether there were differences between telomere dynamics among cell types.

Findings: Telomeres of the greatest length (1015 kb) were observed in stem cells that have a high telomerase activity and shorter telomeres (58 kb) and a gradual shortening in somatic cells. The intermediate telomere length (812 kb) that cancer cells preserved was either due to telomerase activation or ALT signaling. Telomerase activity enhanced cellular survival by around 20% but telomere loss was strongly implicated with an increase in cellular senescence, and degenerative disease phenotypes.

Conclusion: The processes of telomere maintenance play a paramount role in controlling aging and the development of diseases. Agglutination of these processes is important in developing therapeutic intervention uses of aging, cancer and genomic instability.