Researching Telomere Length

From EurekAlert, a look at one way in which telomeres, stem cells and long term health and longevity are tied together: "In this family, the affected grandmother developed gray hair in her 20s and lung problems in her early 60s and died at age 65. Her affected children developed signs of the disease about 10 years earlier than she had, and analysis of their cells revealed that 60 percent to 75 percent of their chromosomes had dangerously short telomeres. ... We know it only takes one critically short telomere to make a cell die, so it's clear that the more really short telomeres a person has the faster problems will develop. ... We thought there might be some relationship between telomerase, telomere length and the survival of stem cells, but it was really exciting to see it."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-12/jhmi-alt122205.php

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