Inflicting Cellular Aging On Cancer

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(From donga.com). Korean researchers are claiming a method of suppressing the agelessness of cancer cells. "Professor Cheong and his team separated breast and cervical cancer cells from the body and cultured them for a month before injecting them with MKRN1 genes. As a result, the growing and dividing cancer cells began aging and finally disappeared." MKRN1 acts to degrade telomerase, the telomere-lengthening enzyme that is dormant in most cells, but active in cancer. In cancer cells, "telomerase protects telomeres from being shortened as far as the aging point. Therefore, cancer cells do not get old and continue cell division to spread themselves to other organs." Safely removing telomerase from the equation seems to be a promising line of enquiry for cancer therapies.

Link: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2005040445838