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Published on: April 21, 2016
Use of telomerase to create bioengineered tissues
Jerry W Shay1, Woodring E Wright
1Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-9039, USA. Jerry.Shay@UTSouthwestern.edu
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|January 10, 2006
Summary
Telomeres shorten with cell division, leading to aging. Expressing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) can maintain telomere length, potentially rejuvenating cells for therapeutic applications.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Telomeres are protective DNA caps that shorten with cell division, contributing to cellular senescence and aging.
- Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme, adds telomeric repeats, but its activity is restricted in most somatic cells.
- hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) is the catalytic component of telomerase, crucial for telomere maintenance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the implications of hTERT expression in cellular aging and potential therapeutic applications.
- To investigate the role of telomere length maintenance in circumventing senescence.
- To assess the feasibility of using hTERT-engineered cells and tissues for regenerative medicine.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of telomere dynamics and cellular senescence.
- Investigating the effects of ectopic hTERT expression in various human cell types.
- Development of organotypic cultures from hTERT-expressing cells.
Main Results:
- Ectopic hTERT expression in normal cells restores telomerase activity, maintaining telomere length and preventing senescence.
- hTERT expression immortalized various human cell types, including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and stem cells.
- hTERT-engineered cells formed functional organotypic cultures, indicating preserved differentiation capacity.
Conclusions:
- Maintaining telomere length via hTERT expression offers a strategy to counteract cellular aging.
- Transient cellular rejuvenation through hTERT holds promise for treating age-related diseases and chronic conditions.
- hTERT-engineered tissues represent a potential source for regenerative medicine, addressing tissue degeneration due to replicative senescence.
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