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Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Generation of Cancer Cell Clones to Visualize Telomeric Repeat-containing RNA TERRA Expressed from a Single Telomere in Living Cells
Published on: January 17, 2019
Revisiting Telomere Shortening in Cancer
Keiji Okamoto1, Hiroyuki Seimiya2
1Division of Molecular Biotherapy, Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan. keiji.okamoto@jfcr.or.jp.
Abstract:
Telomeres, the protective structures of chromosome ends are gradually shortened by each cell division, eventually leading to senescence or apoptosis. Cancer cells maintain the telomere length for unlimited growth by telomerase reactivation or a recombination-based mechanism. Recent genome-wide analyses have unveiled genetic and epigenetic alterations of the telomere maintenance machinery in cancer. While telomerase inhibition reveals that longer telomeres are more advantageous for cell survival, cancer cells often have paradoxically shorter telomeres compared with those found in the normal tissues. In this review, we summarize the latest knowledge about telomere length alterations in cancer and revisit its rationality. Finally, we discuss the potential utility of telomere length as a prognostic biomarker.
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