The role of telomerase in joint deterioration in rheumatoid arthritis.

The rate of bone formation is largely determined by the number of osteoblasts, which in turn is determined by the rate of replication of progenitors and the life span of mature cells, reflecting the timing of death by apoptosis. To date, however, the exact age-dependent changes of the cellular activity, replicative potential and life span of osteoblasts have not been investigated. Here we review evidence that the cellular activity, telomere lengths and replicative life span of osteoblastic cells obtained from juxtaarticular bone marrow gradually decrease with the advance of donor age in arthritides. Also, we show that the ability to extend the cellular life span of osteoblasts may have important implications for biological research and the development of new technologies for bone and joint diseases. (c) 2001 Prous Science. All rights reserved.