Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Telomere maintenance mechanisms and cellular immortalization.

L M Colgin1, R R Reddel

  • 1Children's Medical Research Institute, 214 Hawkesbury Road, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.

Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
|March 11, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The wide-ranging clinical implications of the short telomere syndromes.

Internal medicine journal·2015
Same author

Hepatic abscesses in five outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Journal of medical primatology·2014
Same author

Stanniocalcin 1 is important for poststroke functionality, but dispensable for ischemic tolerance.

Neuroscience·2012
Same author

Upregulation of survivin during immortalization of nontransformed human fibroblasts transduced with telomerase reverse transcriptase.

Oncogene·2009
Same author

Stanniocalcin-1 acts in a negative feedback loop in the prosurvival ERK1/2 signaling pathway during oxidative stress.

Oncogene·2009
Same author

Identification of candidate alternative lengthening of telomeres genes by methionine restriction and RNA interference.

Oncogene·2007

Immortal cells can divide forever by maintaining telomeres. While many use telomerase, some immortal cell lines use alternative lengthening mechanisms to prevent telomere shortening.

Area of Science:

  • Cell biology
  • Genetics
  • Molecular biology

Background:

  • Cellular immortality allows indefinite proliferation, a hallmark of cancer.
  • Normal somatic cells experience telomere shortening with each division.
  • Telomere maintenance is crucial for cellular lifespan and preventing genomic instability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To summarize mechanisms of cellular immortalization.
  • To highlight the role of telomerase in telomere maintenance.
  • To discuss alternative telomere maintenance mechanisms in immortal cells.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on cell immortalization.
  • Analysis of studies investigating telomere dynamics.
  • Examination of molecular pathways involved in telomere maintenance.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Immortal cell populations exhibit mechanisms to counteract telomere attrition.
  • Telomerase is a key enzyme complex responsible for telomere maintenance in many immortal cells.
  • Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is observed in telomerase-negative immortal cell lines.

Conclusions:

  • Cellular immortality relies on effective telomere maintenance strategies.
  • Telomerase is the predominant mechanism, but alternative pathways exist.
  • Understanding these mechanisms is vital for cancer research and therapeutic development.