BLOCKING the enzyme telomerase can stop cancers forming, says Maria Blasco
and her colleagues at the National Biotechnology Centre in Madrid.
Telomerase lengthens the “fuses”, or telomeres, on the ends of chromosomes,
allowing cancer cells to divide indefinitely. Without it, these fuses should
burn down, stopping division. But attempts to control cancer by blocking
telomerase have had mixed results. Mice that lack telomerase still get tumours
because, unlike humans, their telomeres are very long.
So Blasco’s team cross-bred mice without the telomerase gene until they had
very short telomeres. When exposed to carcinogens, fifth-generation mice
developed 95 per cent fewer…
