Understanding Telomerase

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Medical News Today reports on continuing progress in understanding telomerase: "UCLA biochemists have determined the three-dimensional structure of a major domain of telomerase, the enzyme that helps maintain telomeres - small pieces of DNA on the ends of chromosomes that act as protective caps - allowing DNA ends to be copied completely when cells are replicated. This is the first major piece of telomerase for which the structure is known. Telomerase plays a key role in most cancers, and this work ultimately may lead to targets for drug intervention. ... In the natural aging process, the telomeres eventually get so short that cells can no longer divide, and they die. While telomerase is turned off in most types of healthy cells in our bodies, it is active in the vast majority of cancer cells."

Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=21017